The Year Ahead: How Japan Can Help Shape the New Asia will begin at 6 p.m. at Union Bank, 400 California St. Main Banking Hall in S.F. There will be a networking reception from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Expert symposium participants will include Dr. Tsuneo Akaha, Brad Glosserman, JD, Dr. William H. Overholt, Daniel C. Sneider, MA, and Dr. Steven K. Voge. There is a $6 cost for Japan society members and members of co-sponsoring organizations and $12 for general admission. Panelists will explore Japan’s role in Asia in a new era of declining relative Japanese economic power, growing regional concern about the new Chinese assertiveness, and the heightened emphasis on Asia in the second half of the Obama presidency. Info: http://japansocietyofnortherncalifornia.myshopify.com/products/the-year-ahead.