U.S.-Japan Council of the Japanese American National Museum, who had been working with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to introduce Japanese American leaders to Japan through the Japanese American Leadership Delegation. Hirano Inouye is now the President of USJC. In 2012, the U.S.-Japan Council (Japan) was created to support the administration of the TOMODACHI Initiative. In 2013, U.S.-Japan Council (Japan) became a Public Interest Corporation ("Koeki Zaidan Hojin"). President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Shinzō Abe praised the work of the U.S.-Japan Council in supporting the U.S.-Japan relationship in a Joint Statement issued during their April 2014 Summit. The Joint Statement particularly
Shinzō Abe Koizumi. He took some steps toward balancing the Japanese budget, such as appointing a tax policy expert, Kōji Omi, as Minister of Finance. Omi previously supported increases in the national consumption tax, although Abe distanced himself from this policy and sought to achieve much of his budget balancing through spending cuts. Since 1997, as the bureau chief of "Institute of Junior Assembly Members Who Think About the Outlook of Japan and History Education", Abe supported the controversial Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform and the "New History Textbook". In March 2007, Abe along with right-wing politicians have proposed a bill