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Consul General Daniel R. Russel

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About U.S. Consulate General, Osaka-Kobe

Consul General Russel

Daniel Russel has been the U.S. Consul General in Osaka-Kobe, Japan since August, 2005. Before assuming this position, Mr. Russel served as The Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in The Hague, Netherlands from 2002-2005.and in the same capacity in Nicosia, Cyprus. Prior to that assignment he was Chief of Staff to the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering, from 1997-99.

He spent 1996 on an academic sabbatical after being awarded the State Department's Una Chapman Cox Fellowship. The book he wrote during this sabbatical, America’s Place in the World, was later published by Georgetown University. From 1995-96, Mr. Russel was the Special Assistant to Peter Tarnoff, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs. He was responsible for International Organizations and Asian Affairs.

In Seoul, Korea he held the position of Political Chief responsible for U.S.- South and North Korean affairs from 1992-95. During this time, Mr. Russel participated in the Geneva and Kuala Lumpur nuclear talks with the DPRK and helped negotiate the Agreed Framework in 1994. He received the Director General's Award for Reporting.

From 1989-92, he served at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York as Political Adviser to the Permanent Representative, Ambassador Pickering, and was accredited to the Security Council.

From 1987-89, Mr. Russel served as Vice Consul in Osaka, and subsequently as Branch Office Manager in Nagoya, Japan.

In 1985, Mr. Russel joined the joined Foreign Service, whereupon he was posted to Tokyo and served as the assistant to Ambassador and former Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield until 1987.

Prior to joining the Foreign Service he was manager for an international firm in New York City from 1979-85.

Mr. Russel was educated at Sarah Lawrence College and University College, University of London, UK.

He is married and has three children.

The Consulate General consists of Administrative, Consular, Political/Economic, Commercial, and Public Affairs (the Kansai American Center) Sections, and an Agricultural Trade Office.

Osaka-Kobe's consular district includes 17 of Japan's 47 prefectures and is spread across the west-central regions of Kansai, Chugoku, Shikoku, and Hokuriku. Home to over one-fourth of Japan's 128 million people, the district includes five cities with populations exceeding 1 million residents, among them the commercial and port cities of Osaka and Kobe, along with the historic city of Kyoto.

Kansai - the six-prefecture region centered on Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto and Nara - has long been considered as one of Japan's main industrial and commercial heartlands. Its 1996 gross regional product of $864 billion, if classified as an individual country's output, would rank as the world's seventh-largest, exceeding Canada's GDP. Kansai's share of Japan's exports and imports is about 19 percent. In 1995, Kansai imports from the United States reached $11 billion. There are 150 U.S. companies with operations in the Kansai area.