Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe To Receive Hudson Institute's 2013 Herman Kahn Award

WASHINGTON, Sept. 18, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On Wednesday, September 25th at The Pierre Hotel in New York City, Hudson Institute will present its 2013 Herman Kahn Award to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Abe is being honored as a transformative leader seeking to advance the kind of reform necessary to restore Japan to full economic vitality. The ceremony will highlight the critical importance of the U.S.-Japan relationship. The Institute will also pay tribute to Hudson trustee Yoji Ohashi, Chairman of the Board of ANA Holdings Inc., for his dynamic leadership which has helped make ANA a globally recognized innovator in the airline industry.     

The annual Herman Kahn Award was established to honor the legacy of the legendary futurist who founded Hudson Institute in 1961. Kahn was the first Western observer – as early as 1962 – to predict that Japan would soon emerge as an economic superpower. Until his death in 1983, Kahn was a confidante of every Japanese prime minister from Hayato Ikeda on, and the Institute has maintained high-level contacts in Japan ever since. 

Hudson Institute has previously honored a long list of distinguished American leaders, including Ronald Reagan, Henry Kissinger, George Shultz, Brent Scowcroft, Dick Cheney, and Mitch Daniels. This year, we break with tradition to honor Prime Minister Abe, who is expected to make a major speech on the continuing need for economic reform in Japan – and the continuing importance of the U.S.-Japan alliance.

"Prime Minister Abe is a courageous and visionary leader and a strong and valued friend of the U.S.," says Hudson Institute President and CEO Kenneth Weinstein. "Abe-san is a longtime friend of Hudson Institute, someone who knows the critical importance of ideas to effective governance. Given Herman Kahn's legacy of research on Japan, it is altogether appropriate to honor Abe-san."

What:  Hudson Institute's 2012 Herman Kahn Award Dinner honoring Shinzo Abe.

When:  Wednesday, September 25, 2013 at 12:00 p.m. (Doors open at 11:15).

Where: The Pierre Hotel, 2 East 61^st Street at Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10065.       
             Credentialed press only.

Hudson Institute is a nonpartisan policy research organization dedicated to innovative research and analysis. Founded in 1961, Hudson celebrates a more than half-century tradition of forging new ideas to promote security, prosperity, and freedom. www.hudson.org.

For more information contact David Tellat 202-292-5963 or dtell@hudson.org.

SOURCE Hudson Institute