Barack Obama and Rahm Emanuel in the Oval Office (Wikipedia)
U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel showed his support for the country by dining out and making sure to be photographed eating Japanese seafood, eating raw plates of fish from Fukushima. The meal came after the Chinese government made public complaints about Japan’s decision to release water into the sea from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant. That plant suffered a “nuclear accident” after an earthquake and tsunami caused damage there in March 2011.
Rahm Emanuel is known for nothing if not for being brash, outspoken and daring. And he lived up to his reputation, practically goading the Chinese government into coming after him.
“If Japan decides to take that effort, the United States will stand by it not just because they’re an ally, but because there’s legitimacy to the case,” said Rahm Emanuel.
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“Water from this area is safer than (the water which) the four plants in China dumps untreated into the ocean,” he added.
And accusing China of harassing Japan with its complaints, Emanuel declared, “Nothing China has done is any way to inform, to educate or to improve people’s judgment.”
Son’t expect him to be named ambassador to China any time soon, or even to visit that country.
Rahm Emanuel was confirmed in a bipartisan vote as the 31st United States Ambassador to Japan on December 18, 2021.
Previously, Ambassador Emanuel was the 55th Mayor of the City of Chicago, a position he held until May 2019. During that time, he made the critical choices necessary to secure Chicago’s future as a global capital.
A member of the Democratic Party, he served three terms representing Illinois in the United States House of Representatives from 2003 to 2009, as White House Chief of Staff from 2009 to 2010 under Barack Obama, and as mayor of Chicago from 2011 to 2019.
Rahm Emanuel was born in Chicago to an Israeli-American family. He graduated from Sarah Lawrence College and Northwestern University. After college, he worked as a political consultant and fundraiser. In 1992, he served as director of the finance committee for Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign.
From 1993 to 1998, Ambassador Rahm Emanuel was a key member of President Bill Clinton’s administration, rising to serve as Senior Advisor to the President for Policy and Politics. During this time, Emanuel served as a legislative liaison to Congress and spearheaded efforts to pass several of President Clinton’s signature achievements, most notably the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, and the historic Balanced Budget Act, which created the Children’s Health Insurance Program that expanded health care coverage to 10 million children. The Ambassador also worked closely with President Joseph R. Biden Jr., then a U.S. Senator, to shepherd the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 through Congress.
After Clinton was elected president, Rahm Emanuel joined the Clinton administration as assistant to the president for political affairs. He later served as Senior Advisor to the President for policy and strategy. In 1998, he left the administration to work as an investment banker at Wasserstein Perella & Co.
