Irene Hirano Inouye (née Yasutake; October 7, 1948 – April 7, 2020) was an American business executive who was the founding President of the U.S.-Japan Council, a position she held ever since she helped create the organization in 2009 until her death.

Hirano Inouye focused on building positive relations between the United States and Japan, and was also a leader in philanthropy, community engagement, and advancing social causes.

She previously served as president and founding chief executive officer of the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles from 1988 to 2008, which is affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution.

[2] She worked at the clinic for thirteen years, during which time she discovered that there was a need for the public to understand the differences in the needs of people based on gender and cultural backgrounds.

[7] The Council has grown in size and expanded its activities to include diverse participants, and signature programs such as the Japanese American Leadership Delegation, the Asian American Leadership Delegation, the Emerging Leaders Program, and well-attended Annual Conferences that gather government, business, and civil society leaders from both countries.

The initiative is a public-private partnership with the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, and enjoys the strong support of the Government of Japan and it invests in the next generation of leaders in U.S.-Japan relations.

The Initiative represents a path-breaking paradigm in U.S. public diplomacy, in which government joins forces with private enterprises and organizations to achieve mutually beneficial, strategic goals.

TOMODACHI provides young Japanese and Americans with opportunities to study, live, and work in each other's countries, thereby ensuring a thriving bilateral partnership into the foreseeable future.

[13] In 2016, the Center on Philanthropy and Public Policy at USC launched a fund to support research and programs to explore foundation leadership as it solves society's most pressing problems, in honor of Irene Hirano Inouye.

[3] She has remained involved in a number of activities to promote women's empowerment within the Asian American community, as well as more broadly in both the United States and Japan.

[21] In August 2021, while visiting Japan for the Tokyo Olympics, First lady Jill Biden dedicated a room in the U.S. ambassador’s residence to Irene and her husband, the late U.S. Sen. Daniel K.

[22] In October 2021, Hirano Inouye was posthumously awarded Japan's Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon.