Samuel Jameson was the inaugural Terasaki Chair in U.S.-Japan Relations in 2000.  Jameson had a deep knowledge of Japan, his professional and personal base for half a century. He joined the Los Angeles Times newspaper in 1971 and headed the paper's Tokyo bureau until 1996.  Sent to Tokyo by the Army in 1960, Jameson worked first for Pacific Stars and Stripes, the U.S. military newspaper. In 1963, after he was discharged from the service and spent a year studying Japanese, he became the Chicago Tribune's Tokyo bureau chief. He joined The Times in 1971, heading the paper's bureau in Tokyo until 1996.

Fluent in Japanese and deeply sourced with Japanese political and business leaders throughout his long career, Jameson became a widely recognized expert on the country's economy and politics. In addition to writing thousands of news articles, he gave lectures on Japan-related topics in the United States and Tokyo and appeared frequently on Japanese news and talk shows.