| Date | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday, April 10, 2014 | 3:00PM - 5:00PM | External Event, Hart House Music Room 7 Hart House Circle |
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe came to power following the landslide victory by the Liberal Democratic Party in the 2012 general election. From the outset, the policies of the Abe government have been heavily influenced by two distinct realities: popular dissatisfaction fostered by almost two decades of economic stagnation, and growing uneasiness with Japan’s national security environment.
Japanese Ambassador to Canada Norihiro Okuda will present an overview of the foreign and domestic policies of the Abe Administration. He will discuss their developments in the context of ongoing events in Japan and the Asia Pacific region.
Mr. Norihiro Okuda completed a law degree at Tokyo University before joining the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) in 1975. In 1979, Mr. Okuda was appointed to the Embassy of Japan in Egypt. He subsequently returned to the Ministry’s Middle Eastern and African Affairs Bureau before becoming Deputy Director of the Energy Affairs Division and later served as Deputy Director at the Management and Coordination Agency in the Prime Minister’s Office. In 1987, Mr. Okuda was appointed to the Japanese Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York as First Secretary and three years later was assigned to the Embassy of Japan in Saudi Arabia. Mr. Okuda subsequently served as Legal Coordinator at MOFA before becoming Director of the Middle East Division and then of the Grant Aid Division. In 1997, he became Counsellor at the Japanese Embassy in Washington D.C. and then Minister. In 2004, Mr. Okuda was named Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Afghanistan and then to the UN as Deputy Permanent Representative at the Japanese Permanent Mission. He was Ambassador to Egypt before being posted to Canada in April 2013.
Schedule:
Talk & Q&A 3:15 PM – 4:15 PM
(Doors open at 3:00PM)
Reception 4:15-5:00PM
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