Governor Meets with Mayor of Los Angeles

On Wednesday, July 25, Governor Koike met with Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for exchange and cooperation with the City of Los Angeles.

Tokyo and Los Angeles as host cities for the 2020 and 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, respectively, have agreed to engage in exchange and cooperation in four fields of mutual interest-the Olympic and Paralympic Games, sustainability, resilience, and ports and harbors-to develop the relationship of both cities in a creative and practical manner that will benefit their citizens.

Governor Koike commented on each of the fields of exchange, saying, “We will cooperate to ensure the success of each of our Games, so that we can leave a valuable legacy to future generations,” “I hope that we can lead the world by sharing our extensive knowledge on measures to address waste, global warming and other countermeasures,” “We will engage in efforts to improve the disaster resilience of both cities by sharing our disaster mitigation methods, such as raising public awareness regarding disasters and rapid distribution of information when disasters occur,” and “The ports of Tokyo and Los Angeles are sister ports and I hope we can continue to strengthen their relationship.” The governor then pointed out that Mayor Garcetti had study abroad experience in Japan and was knowledgeable about the country, and expressed her great pleasure over strong bonds between the two cities centering on the mayor.

Mayor Garcetti replied that the opportunities the two cities share, such as hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games, were very similar and then touched on other commonalities including natural disasters. He said, “When disasters hit, we help each other and we must rebuild. Which is why we are so proud to sign this Memorandum of Understanding here today.” He concluded his remarks by saying, “…at a moment when the world seems to be more and more divided, I hope that today’s image is showing that deep down, human beings want to be closer and more united.”