Dec. 4 - One of our most important goals is to communicate with the Japanese people to learn about Japanese views, convey U.S. positions, and find ways to cooperate on issues of mutual interest. My colleagues and I meet frequently with Japanese leaders in political, business, journalistic and cultural fields.

After the Aug. 30 Lower House election, a record number of first-time members of the Diet were sworn in. We held three new Diet member briefing sessions at the Tokyo American Center to get to know these new legislators and to familiarize them with the business and services of the U.S. Embassy. Over 30 Diet members from two political parties attended the briefings and met Embassy staff representing key elements of our mission. We discussed many important issues and shared ideas and opinions on economic relations, national security issues, environmental policy and international parental child abduction.

I thought the sessions were very valuable, and it was exciting to meet the representatives personally. Many of these new legislators came into political life after years of experience in business, academia, media and other professions. I was also surprised to meet many who had worked or studied abroad and who spoke good English. Japan's Diet certainly has more English speakers than our Congress has Japanese speakers!

The entire U.S. Embassy looks forward to continuing to work closely with Japanese Diet members by providing information to help inform them in their work.

Until next time,

Jim