Current Japanese Baker-Kato fellow Masa Saito sits behind Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as part of the U.S. delegation at an APEC conference on Sept. 16. Our APEC Ambassador, Kurt Tong, is sitting at Clinton's right.
Oct. 11 - Seven years ago the U.S. State Department and the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs launched a diplomatic exchange program. We aimed to invest in our future by enabling young American and Japanese diplomats to understand better each other's work culture. Recently I hosted a reception to thank all of the Foreign Ministry officials who provide a positive work environment for the American exchange diplomats. Today I want to introduce you to three Japanese program participants.
Kosuke Amiya now works in the Foreign Affairs Ministry Russia division, but from 2008-2009 he worked in the State Department East Asian Affairs Bureau responsible for U.S.-ASEAN relations and the ASEAN Regional Forum. Kosuke related fond memories of his year working in the State Department. He was impressed to see how U.S. State Department employees worked closely with new political appointees after President Obama's election. He also said he will never forget Secretary Clinton's address to thousands of employees on her first day as Secretary of State.
Wataru Otsuka now covers Middle East issues at the Foreign Ministry. He worked in the State Department's APEC office on issues such as the Women's Entrepreneurship Summit at Gifu from 2009-11. In this job, he began exchanging e-mails with my wife Ann, who was working in Tokyo on this conference. At first Ann did not believe me when I told her that Wataru was a Japanese exchange diplomat. His English e-mails were so good that she had assumed Wataru was a Japanese-American diplomat! One strong memory of Wataru's time in Washington was a tremendous snowstorm that forced the government to close because employees could not come to work.
Masa Saito is currently working at the State Department in the APEC office. He is working on women's economic empowerment. He just helped the State Department prepare for Secretary Clinton to chair a High Level Policy Dialogue on Women in the Economy. He gave me a good tip about the State Department Cafeteria. He told me that the Japanese-style udon noodles are not too bad if you select the right toppings.
In my next blog I will introduce you to the American exchange diplomats on this program.
Until next time,
Jim
Mr. Zumwalt - great to see the happy faces in Tokyo through your photos! I thought you were moving - must be getting close.
