NAJAS 2026 NETWORK CONFERENCE

This July, we are thrilled to welcome members, partners, and guests to New Orleans, Louisiana. Join us at a unique assembly of U.S.-Japan experts, corporates and non-profits converging from 30 states and one province across North America in the Gulf Region. Throughout the 20th Century era, Japan exerted a strong economic and cultural influence on Louisiana, both in the cosmopolitan city of New Orleans and outside. As the only large city and commercial center in the Gulf region, New Orleans became a major conduit for Japanese trade and investment early in the century, especially in the mushrooming cotton trade. Relations expanded so greatly that by 1922, Japan opened a consulate building in New Orleans. While trade was cut off during World War II, by 1960 Japan had become the Crescent City’s largest international trading partner. Meanwhile, rice grains from Japan were heavily planted in Louisiana, Japanese flowers such as the Water Hyacinth (plus the Kudzu vine) were transplanted in Louisiana soil, and the Japanese Camellia enjoyed a vogue. We will strive to connect figures like Lafcadio Hearn to that legacy and see what it portends in our current era of “Peak Japan” buzz. The great transnational cultural and touristic traditions clearly live on under the entrepreneurial, can-do Japan Society of New Orleans—a society that will celebrate its centennial in a pair of years. JSNO stands out for innovative programing (see Krewe of Japan podcast) and collaborative style, such as in co-hosting NAJAS with kindred volunteer society, JAS Northwest Florida, in the Pensacola area.