The nine members of the 25th US delegation to Japan visited Tokyo, Nagano, and Ibaraki over the course of a two-week visit. They began their stay in Tokyo, where the delegation discussed Japan’s shifting domestic political landscape with leaders from both of Japan’s two major parties, including Nobuteru Ishihara, acting secretary-general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party of Japan (LDP), and Katsuya Okada, vice president of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). The delegation also met with officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, visited senior journalists at the headquarters of the Asahi Shimbun for a briefing on current Japanese politics, and paid a visit to the US Embassy to meet with the US Ambassador J. Thomas Schieffer and other senior embassy officials. In addition, the group spoke with Japanese business leaders in a luncheon meeting hosted by Nippon Keidanren (Japan Business Federation) and met with members of the US-Japan Conference on Cultural and Educational Understanding (CULCON) to discuss the promotion of US-Japan exchange.

After five days in Tokyo, the delegates traveled to Nagano City, where they met the mayor of Nagano City, Shoichi Washizawa, and spoke with local Diet members and Nagano prefectural assembly members. The group then left for Ibaraki, where they visited the Ibaraki prefectural government and paid a visit to Kiyoshi Nakagawa, mayor of Tsuchiura City. In Ibaraki prefecture, the delegation also toured local businesses and schools and met with several local research organizations to discuss energy and environment issues in the region.