Scott Foster, a native of Oregon, is senior technology analyst at HSBC Securities in Tokyo and Principal at Misaki Research. Prior to HSBC, he was senior technology analyst at Lehman Brothers Japan. Before joining Lehman, Scott worked for a consulting firm and as a securities analyst for 10 years in Tokyo and three years in Seoul, primarily with Merrill Lynch. He first met Mark when he visited the Whale Museum on San Juan Island in 1979.

In 1975 Scott received a recording of Watazumido shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute); the following year he went to Japan to study the instrument. In time, he studied shakuhachi with John Kaizan Neptune and Yamamoto Hozan, and Korean taegum with Won Jang Hyun. He returned to Japan in 1996.

Scott holds a BA from Stanford University (1976) and an MA from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (1982).