Welcome to the Japan Local Government Centre Sydney Homepage!

On July 13, 2007 I commenced my term as the fifth Director of JLGC (CLAIR Sydney). CLAIR Sydney was opened in 1994 as the sixth overseas CLAIR office. The aim of the Council of Local Authorities of International Relations (CLAIR) is to promote the internationalisation of Japanese government and society, starting from the local level.

Our Sydney office aims to liaise between regional and local authorities in Australia , New Zealand and on occasions the South Pacific. Some of our activities include:

• *	Researching and providing information on Australian local government systems to Japanese authorities.
  *	Holding knowledge exchange events such as the annual CLAIR Forum and local government seminars.
  *	Inviting government officials of the Oceania to travel on exchange to Japan to learn about Japanese governance. For example, LGECS and LGOT Programmes.
  *	Coordinating the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme and JET Alumni Association, for younger Australians and New Zealanders to live and work in Japan.

In my career at the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications I served for various Prefectural Governments in Japan, namely Saga, Nara, Miyagi and Kochi Prefectures. This has given me a rich understanding of Japanese Local Government and during my time at CLAIR Sydney, I would like to share this knowledge with my Australian counterparts in order to advance understanding between our countries.

As a child I spent three years in the United States. This is my second time living overseas and I have come here with my wife and daughter. We are very excited to live in this excellent country and look forward to experiencing your lifestyle, culture, heritage and environment.

In closing, I would like to express my sincere thanks to the friends of CLAIR Sydney who have welcomed me so warmly. I look forward to working with you to build even stronger bridges of exchange between Oceania and Japan over the coming years.

Please take your time to become more familiar with CLAIR Sydney by looking over our webpage. I welcome your comments and enquiries.

Yours Sincerely,

Kenji Ikeda
Director

go to TOP

Our Profile

2009 CLAIR Sydney Profile ( PDF 0.9Mb)