Japan's Mizutori Named Special U.N. Envoy for Disaster Reduction

New York, Jan. 31 (Jiji Press)--U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday announced the appointment of former Japanese diplomat Mami Mizutori as assistant secretary-general and the U.N. chief's special representative for disaster risk reduction. Mizutori, set to succeed Robert Glasser of Australia, will be the fourth Japanese to serve as a special representative of a U.N. secretary-general. Born in 1960, Mizutori joined Japan's Foreign Ministry in 1983 after graduating from Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo. At the ministry, she held such posts as chief of the United Nations Policy Division and head of the Financial Affairs Division. She has also served as minister at the Japanese embassy in London. She quit the ministry in 2010. Since 2011, Mizutori has been serving as executive director of the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures, an affiliate of the University of East Anglia, and as special adviser for Japanese studies at the British university. END