U.S.-Japan Caucus visited Japan for five days as an official representative of the United States and the U.S.-Japan Caucus. While there, he met with various officials within the Japanese Government, including, Shinzo Abe (The Prime Minister of Japan), Caroline Kennedy (the then-U.S. Ambassador to Japan), Yoichi Miyazawa (Then Japanese Miniser of Economy, Trade, and Industry), as well as the members of the Japanese-US Parliamentary Friendship League (the Japanese counterpart of the U.S.-Japan Caucus). On January 12, 2016, the U.S.-Japan Caucus came out in support of a historic agreement between Japan and South Korea surrounding the controversial issue of Japanese Comfort Women. The
Sanji Abe Abe became the first American of Japanese ancestry to be elected to Hawaii's territorial senate; he ran from the South Hilo district as a Republican. His dual citizenship of the U.S. and Japan became a hotly discussed issue during his election campaign. His citizenship issues first came to public attention in early October; soon afterwards, Abe announced that he would be renouncing his Japanese citizenship. He received confirmation of his expatriation on November 2. The intersection of Abe's ancestry and rise to prominence set him up for negative attention from the US Army's Hawaii sub-command; he was arrested on August