One of the privileges of being a civil servant in this country is that you can participate in important decision-making processes related to policy, even if you are a junior official.
In my case, I was the Finance Ministry's director of the office of the vice minister for international affairs when, in 1983, the ministry and the U.S. Treasury Department put together the famous Yen-Dollar Committee, where officials discussed exchange rates and financial deregulation.
In 1986, when Japan hosted the Economic Summit Meetings in Tokyo and agreed to start a policy coordination process by creating the Group of Seven, which consists of the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Canada, I was appointed the ministry's director in charge of the meetings.
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