Japan pitches Tokyo as new UN hub while US steps back from world stage
Highlighting public safety, security and the weak yen, Tokyo is positioning itself as an ‘attractive’ alternative to current UN locations
Koike returned to Japan on Sunday following an official visit to the US, where she addressed the Johns Hopkins School of International Studies in Washington and highlighted Tokyo’s emergence as a major player on the world stage.
During her visit, she also met with policy experts at the Hudson Institute think tank, where Tokyo’s drive to become a sustainable metropolis was high on the agenda.
On Thursday, Koike held a 15-minute meeting with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres at the organisation’s headquarters in New York. There, she proposed that more of the UN’s offices be relocated to cities elsewhere in the world, including Tokyo.
“Tokyo would like to provide various types of support [to the UN],” Koike told reporters after the meeting, highlighting the city’s advantages over other locations, such as “public safety, security and now, with the weak yen, there are other positive aspects to life”.
Guterres acknowledged that his office had “received offers of cooperation from various countries and regions”, but declined to elaborate on the Japanese proposal or whether it might be pursued further.