Kazumi Matsui

Kazumi Matsui was elected Mayor of Hiroshima in April 2011, then re-elected in 2015. He served as President of Mayors for Peace, an NGO bringing together more than 6,600 municipalities in 160 nations and regions, with the goal of establishing lasting international peace and the elimination of nuclear weapons.

He began working at Japan’s Ministry of Labour in 1976 and became Secretary General of the Embassy of Japan to the United Kingdom from 1989 to 1992. He served in different positions in the same ministry, in the Workers’ Division of the Office of Women’s Labour (1993) and the Division of Professional Inclusion Measures for Seniors in the Employment Office (1994).

In 2002, he became Director to the General Coordination Division of the Minister’s Secretariat, of the Deputy Minister of International Affairs and in 2006, Representative of Japan to the Board of Directors of the International Labour Organization (ILO). In 2008, he was appointed General Manager of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of Professional Relations.

Kazumi Matsui holds a Law Degree from the University of Tokyo.