COSTA MESA — A welcome reception for Jun Niimi, the new consul general of Japan in Los Angeles, will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 1, at the Capital Grille, 3333 Bristol St., Costa Mesa, in South Coast Plaza next to Bloomingdale’s. Registration at 5:30 p.m., program at 6 p.m.
The event is hosted by the Japan America Society and the Orange County Japanese American Association.
Admission is $35 for JAS and OCJAA members, $45 for non-members and guests. RSVP by Friday, Jan. 27, by calling (213) 627-6217, ext. 205 or going online to www.jas-socal.org.
Niimi assumed his post as consul general on Oct. 8, succeeding Junichi Ihara. His previous international assignments were to England, Kenya, France, Iran (1995), Russia (as minister at the Embassy of Japan, 2003), and Thailand (as deputy chief of mission and permanent representative to the United Nations’ Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific at the Embassy of Japan, 2006).
At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tokyo, he has served as director of the Overseas Public Relations Division (1998-2000), director of the Consular Policy Division (2000-2001), director of the Overseas Establishments Division (2001-2003), and assistant vice minister (2010). He was also deputy director-general of the Trade Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (2008).
Niimi graduated from Tokyo University’s Faculty of Law in 1979, and the same year joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.