Consul General Jun Niimi visited the campuses of UCLA and UCSD on February 27th and March 4th, and introduced audiences of professors, students, and community members to the new government of Japan in a presentation titled, “The Newly Elected Abe Administration and its Policies.” At UCLA the event was sponsored by the Tersasaki Center for Japanese Studies and the Consul General was introduced by the Center’s director, Prof. Hitoshi Abe. The event at UCSD was hosted by the graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies, and Ellis Krauss, Professor of Japanese politics, performed the introduction and moderated the question and answer session.
In the presentation Consul General Niimi explained in detail the results of the December 2012 elections in Japan, and then gave an explanation of the economic and foreign policy of the newly-installed Abe Administration. He explained that, on the foreign policy front, the new government will assign the very highest priority to strengthening the Japan-U.S. alliance, aiming to significantly increase cooperation in such major areas as security and trade relations, while at the same time striving to build mutually beneficial relations with neighboring countries.
In the question-and-answer session, both students and community attendees asked in-depth and specific questions on Japan’s domestic and foreign policies, including issues of free trade, monetary policy stance, internationalization of the workforce, and constitutional reform, and were able to learn about Japan’s position on these issues directly from Consul General Niimi.
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