JLGC NEWSLETTER­Japan Local Government Center (CLAIR, New York )Issue No. 96 / June 2019

1. Introduction of New JLGC
Staff (Page 1-3)
2.William Paterson University
Presentation (Page 4-5)
3. Japan Day @ Central Park
(Page 5-6)

What is JLGC?
Japan Local Government Center,New York, works on behalf ofprefecture and local governments
in Japan to provide them withresearch and liaison services tosupport their efforts to adopt bestpractices in local public
administration and to help themachieve their goals in fostering
better international relations.

1. Introduction of New JLGC Staff

Takahiro AndoCounsellor / Deputy Executive Director /Representative of Ministry of Internal
Affairs and Communications
Hello, everyone. I am Takahiro Ando, the new Deputy
Executive Director of Japan Local Government Center(CLAIR, New York). I feel genuinely honored to be here in
the United States as the successor to the former Deputy
Executive Director, Fukutomi-san. To be honest, this is myfirst visit to this country and I am positive that there will
be wonderful encounters from which I can learn different
ways of seeing the world.

My Career
Since I joined the Ministry of Internal Affairs andCommunication (MIC) in 2004, which is responsible for
local governance in Japan, I have mainly been in charge oflocal policies. Specifically, it was memorable for me towrite a draft for revising the Local Tax Law to install a
new income tax scheme. Also, decentralization reforms
were taking place in the first decade of the 21st century,and it was my responsibility to revise various public
administrative laws so local governments can implement
their own policies without control from the central
government.

3 Park Avenue, 20th Floor
New York, NY 10016-5902
212.246.5542 office • 212.246.5617 fax
www.jlgc.org

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As a staff member of the central government, I worked in other fields as well at theCabinet Secretariat, the Cabinet Office, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, etc.
Just before I came to New York City, my duty in the Cabinet Office was to help Okinawa
through programs such as developing its infrastructure and taking countermeasuresagainst poverty among children.
On the other hand, besides those experiences in central
government, I had opportunities to work at local
governments such as the Fukushima prefecturalgovernment and Tochigi prefectural government. Both of
those prefectures provided me with great understanding
about how local governments are connected with thepeople of their jurisdictions.

FukushimaTochigi

TokyoNow, I am engaged in this position, and I am happy there
are various opportunities to get in touch with all of you.
Actually, I have already had the opportunity to join theJapan Day event on May 12th, which is introduced in the following part of this newsletter,and I shared such a nice experience with JETAANY members. I am quite sure that there
are a lot of new things to learn.
Our Mission
In my understanding, our mission can be summarized into the following three points:
1) To strengthen grassroots relationships among sub-national level governments in North
America and Japan;2) To support Japanese local governments’ activities in the US and Canada, including
promotion of their local goods, conducting research into best practices, etc.;
3) To support the JET Program and JETAA.
Concerning the first point, there are various methods to strengthen grassroots
relationships such as sister city affiliations, and the significance of this kind of cooperative
connection seems to have been increasing recently. JLGC can contribute to boost these
relationships by making use of our network.
In relation to the second point, local governments’ efforts to advertise their local goods
overseas are getting more vigorous nowadays. I believe that there are many excellent goods
that remain ‘unfound’ in the local communities. Therefore, we should keep on introducing
those products to a wider audience.

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Finally, the JET Program and JETAA are playing important roles not only in improving
English teaching quality in Japan, but enhancing the internationalization of regions there.
Concerning JETAA, it is often heard that there are some difficult challenges such as
recruitment of new members, revitalization of small chapters and career support forchapter members. There may not be an easy way to find solutions for these. However, wewould like to make our best effort to achieve progress in addressing them!
In concluding my remarks, I would like to emphasize again that I have a strong convictionthat I can broaden my view of the world by being exposed to various different perspectives
during my time in North America.
Last April, 7 new staff members started working at Japan Local Government Center. They
are dispatched from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Tokyo
Metropolitan Police Department, or Japanese prefectures and local governments.
In future issues, they will introduce their hometowns.
NameTitle

Dispatched from

1 Takahiro AndoCounsellor /Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications
Deputy Executive Director

2 Yoshimi Yanai

Assistant Director

Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department

3 Miho Tachi

Assistant Director

Ibaraki Prefecture

4 Mami Ohashi

Assistant Director

Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications

5 Tomoko Fujiwara Assistant Director

Nagano Prefecture

6 Kokoro Arima

Assistant Director

Kobe City

7 Aki Sugawara

Assistant Director

Tsuruoka City753
61, 2, 43

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2. William Paterson University Presentation
On March 19th and April 16th, 2019, we proudly gave presentations called “JapanPresentation Spring 2019” at William Patterson University in New Jersey. Our office staff
have given several lectures like this in response to requests by the Japanese language
teacher at the university over the years. This year, two staff members got opportunities totalk about local attractions in Japan, one on each day.
In Part 1, on March 19th, Satoshi Kuroki from
Hiroshima City Hall gave a presentation titled “TheLifestyle Developed in Hiroshima After the War”.
Hiroshima is famous for two World Heritage sites,
Itsukushima Shrine and the Atomic Bomb Dome, thatmake Hiroshima a popular destination worldwide. He
also introduced Hiroshima's unique post-war
development, like streetcars that expanded to become
the biggest network in Japan and a local specialty
called okonomiyaki that became widespread in thepostwar food shortages.
In Part 2, on April 16th, Shinori Nagasawa fromMiyagi Prefecture introduced Miyagi Prefecturefrom some different points of view. This
presentation was titled “Miyagi Through the Lens ofSports and Festivals”. He gave information on theSendai Tanabata Festival, which is held in Miyagi,
and the three major festivals in the Tohoku region,in the northeastern part of Japan. Additionally,topics included baseball and winter sports, which
are popular in Miyagi Prefecture.

Each day, 30-40 students who attend Japanese language and culture classes at theuniversity came to our presentation. There were a lot of questions from them about
Hiroshima and Miyagi, or Japan in general. After each presentation, we also had time to talkwith them freely at a café. We asked each other more casual questions, like where we havevisited or impressions of each other's countries.

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We were really glad that many students cameto our presentations. We could say Japan is
one of the most favorite destinations in theworld, but many tourists mainly focus on bigcities like Tokyo or Kyoto. Each local areas inJapan has its own unique attractions.
Promoting those local area is one of ourmissions while we are working in the US. We
hope they keep learning about Japanese
language and culture, and get more and moreinterested in local Japan.
For your information (tourism website):
Explore Hiroshima
https://www.hiroshima-navi.or.jp/en/
Miyagi Touring Navigation!!
http://www.pref.miyagi.jp/kankou/en/

3. Japan Day @ Central ParkThe 13th annual Japan Day was held at Central Park on
May 12th. This is an event designed by the Japanesecommunity of New York to promote a deeperunderstanding of Japanese culture and to say “Thank you,New York!”
Very unfortunately (and following what happened lastyear), we had heavy rain the whole day. Despite that,many visitors lined up at the activity tents and food tents
that are hosted by Japanese companies or organizations.
In this event, you can experience various parts of Japaneseculture like trying on yukata, making origami paper crafts
or kabuki face painting as well as enjoy Japanese foodsamples such as okonomiyaki or onigiri rice balls. Visitors
can also enjoy stage performances like taiko or karatedemonstrations. All activities are free.

Poster by Japan Day @ Central Parkhttps://www.japandaynyc.org/

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We, Japan Local Government Center, volunteer at the Yo-Yo Fishing tent
every year, hosted by JETAANY and Japan Society. Twelve staff members
from our office joined this year and helped them with making Yo-Yo
balloons and instructing visitors how to fish for Yo-Yos. Each Yo-Yo
balloon contains a little bit of water to add some weight and float on thewater properly. Visitors have to use the “fishing line” that is made of asmall metal hook and tissue paper to fish a Yo-Yo from the pool. Each YoYo has a rubber string with a loop to be hooked. Visitors need to be very
careful not to let the paper get wet in order to lift up the Yo-Yo. If themetal hook tears off, it’s game over. Virtually, every Japanese has played
this game in their childhood at a local summer festival. We think this is agood way to experience typical Japanese culture.
At the Yo-Yo tent, not only children but also adults really enjoyed this game. We were very
glad that many visitors came to this event to get to know Japan or experience Japaneseculture. We hope more and more New Yorkers get interested in Japan! (Also, we really hopethat next year’s Japan Day will be a sunny day!)6