Welcome to the Japan Local Government Centre Sydney Homepage!

I am very happy to introduce myself as the new Director of the Japan Local Government Centre(JLGC a.k.a. CLAIR, Sydney). Our office, with your help, has been fostering the friendship between Japan and Australia/New Zealand on a local and grassroots basis for 16 years. I hope I can be of some help to you in your efforts to progress your communities and regions. Local government in Japan, like yours, is making every effort to manage challenges such as an aging population, globalization, economic recession, climate change and so on under fiscal constraints. I believe there is a lot that we can learn from each other and it is very valuable for us to open a dialogue to exchange our ideas and experience.

Our office is focused, in particular, on

- fostering sister city relationships.
- encouraging policy dialogues between you and Japanese counterparts.
- researching into multiculturalism.
- supporting JET Alumni's activities and encouraging their own development.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you are interested in any of these areas. I would like to talk with you face to face in my office, your office, in a conference room or at a function. There are things we can easily do and things we may find difficult to do, but I will do my best to find a way.

I’m very glad to live an optimistic life in this beautiful and comfortable environment. A lot of people here have already shown warm hospitality since the day I arrived, 26 July, which happened to be my 46th birthday. As for grassroots friendship, my daughters, fourteen and eight, may accomplish much more than their parents as "little Japanese ambassadors". And, to be honest, I feel great that I can enjoy such wonderful cuisine from a lot of cultures married with glasses of great wine and flavorful beer of your country (with an ambition to introduce you to fine Japanese sake.)

Besides having worked in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications mainly in the fields of local tax and human resources, I have experience of working as
-Cabinet Counsellor for Crisis Management and Civil Protection, Cabinet Secretariat.
-Deputy Counsellor of the Secretariat of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy.
-Deputy Director of the Private Finance Initiatives Promotion Office in the Prime Minister's Office.

My career also includes
-Vice Governor of Nara Prefecture.
-Director General of Budget and Management, Nara Prefectural Government.
-Visiting Scholar at the Institute of Governmental Studies, University of California, Berkeley.
-Budget Director, Director of Municipal Affairs and Director of Public Relations, Tottori
Prefectural Government.

Again, I am very happy to work with you here in Australia and New Zealand .
I am looking forward to seeing you soon.

Shinsuke Takigawa
Director

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