Diplomacy doesn’t end when you turn in your badge or step away from a formal title. In fact, I am learning that diplomacy and people-to-people exchange can often be advanced even more effectively outside of official roles.
Language and cultural expertise remain powerful tools for building trust and forging strategic relationships across borders.
I have been fortunate to serve as a U.S. diplomat for 24 years, strengthening international partnerships, deepening alliances, building my own company, and publishing multiple books. Each chapter has reinforced the same lesson: enduring diplomacy is rooted in human connection.
Recently, I took on something entirely new, writing an original song in Japanese and producing a music video with the help of AI to support rural revitalization in Japan. This is my first creative project of this kind.
👉 Watch the short video version here: https://lnkd.in/gpYRTbCX
The song is dedicated to the town of Wakasa, historically known as 𝐌𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐬𝐮𝐤𝐮𝐧𝐢, the “Kitchen of the Imperial Court,” which supplied Kyoto’s Imperial Court with some of the finest seafood, as well as salt and other local produce.
Wakasa is also home to the Mikata Five Lakes, a Ramsar-designated wetland of international importance and one of Japan’s most scenic lake landscapes, located within 𝐖𝐚𝐤𝐚𝐬𝐚 𝐁𝐚𝐲 𝐐𝐮𝐚𝐬𝐢-𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐤. Lake Suigetsu is internationally recognized for its 70,000-year varve sediment record, a global reference for scientific dating, and the region is home to the world’s only museum dedicated to this record, the 𝐋𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐒𝐮𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐬𝐮 𝐕𝐚𝐫𝐯𝐞 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐮𝐦.
The area is also known for its coastal cycling routes along Wakasa Bay and cultural heritage sites such as the 𝐌𝐢𝐤𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐉𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐧-𝐓𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐚 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐮𝐦, which exhibits artifacts from the Jomon period.
With its mountains, forests, lakes, and sea, Wakasa is a place of extraordinary natural and cultural richness, poised for greater global recognition.
10
Jun
2026
