Japan
Lead Tracker - Eri Aoki
I’m Eri Aoki. I’m a 1st year master’s degree student at Graduate School of Engineering, the University of Tokyo. My major is urban environmental engineering and I also study sustainability science for getting interdisciplinary knowledge and skills. I’m 22 years old. Now I’m live in Tokyo and my hometown is Himeji, Hyogo.
I’ve studied about environment and also had various environmental activities in Japan as student environmental group member: campus ecology, education, joint project with company, conference and so on. Now, I want to take a broader view and promote the awareness of Japanese people for solving local and global environmental issues. I feel that there isn’t enough information about the international negotiation for citizens in Japan. I really want to know what happens in the world now, share it with people and encourage more people to have concern about our future. So I want to connect here the world with Japan.
That is why, this project is an opportunity I can’t miss and I must take part in it. Thank you!!
こんにちは。はじめまして！日本の追跡者（tracker）、青木えりと申します。
私はこれまで国内で大学を中心とした環境活動に関わってきましたが、現在は日本にはどうも「世界」といった他の国への視点や、情報が少ないのではと思います。
このプロジェクトでは、国際交渉の現場、最前線で活躍しておられる交渉官をはじめとした政府代表団の型の声、世界の動きを追い、世界中の市民に伝え、また市民の声を現場に届けることを目的としています。
私は、ただのしがない1学生、市民です。しかし、世界が注目している今だからこそ、このチャンスを活かして、日本の市民と世界をつなぎ、地球の、我々の将来を決める大事なCOP15コペンハーゲンにむけて私にさえできることを精一杯取り組んでいきたいと思います。みなさまの声は何よりの助け・励みになると思います。ご協力よろしくお願いいたします。
ぜひ一緒にがんばりましょう。どうぞよろしくお願いします！！
Akihiko Furuya
Mr. Akihiko is Ambassador for Global Environmental Affairs, in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. He is also our Lead Negotiator in the UNFCCC talks.
Born in 1946, Mr. Furuya studied law at Tokyo University and entered the diplomatic service in 1970. By 1985, he was Director of the Middle Eastern and African Affairs Bureau. His first international posting was to the Philippines, followed by stints at embassies in France and Vietnam. His return home in 1995 found him serving as Deputy Director-General of Global Issues in the Foreign Policy Bureau. By 1997, he was Japan’s Minister to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. In 2000-2002, he served as Ambassador to Senegal, Cape Verde, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Mali and Mauritania. After that, he was an Executive Director of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, the state development bank. In 2006-2008, he served as Ambassador to South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland. From November 2008, he took up his present ambassadorial post.
Japan’s Delegation
Most Japanese delegations and negotiators work at ministries (Ministry of Foreign affair(MOFA), Economy, Trade and Industry(METI), Environment(MoE) are main) as normal officers. They change their position/department in only 2 or 3 years.
They are not expert of negotiating. They represent their minister’s view and discuss and decide Japan’s view.
Japanese often struggle with speaking English, and negotiating doesn’t come naturally… Bureaucrats have prepared everything from budget distribution plans and policy drafts to responses to questions on the diet. They only read the paper. This way is the very Japanese political structure.
but…
Japan is facing historical political reforms. The entire government has recently been reappointed as a result of the opposition parties’(the Democratic Party Japan) victory in a general election.
Until months ago in Japan, the Liberal Democratic Party, has been ruling as a one-party government. They have done so for over sixty years without a change of regime.
The new Democratic Party says it is going to reform Kasumigaseki (structure of Japanese politics which highly depends on bureaucrats) by taking drastic measures. So now is transitional phase and we don’t know how the Japanese political structure changes