Michael Chadwick - Consul for Public Affairs

Michael (Mike) Chadwick is the U.S. Consulate in Fukuoka's Consul for Public Affairs and Director of the Fukuoka American Center. He has also served in Singapore, Moldova and Washington, D.C. His assignment in Fukuoka is for three years, starting in summer 2010.

Mr. Chadwick has a long connection to Japan, starting in 1989 when he spent the summer in Nagano Prefecture as one of the inaugural participants in an exchange program between the Seiko Epson Corporation and the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Following his graduation from William & Mary with a B.A. in International Relations in 1991, he spent a year in Fukuoka as an Assistant English Teacher on the JET Program. During that time, he taught in numerous junior high schools in the Dazaifu and Futsukaichi areas.

He returned to the U.S. for graduate school, and in 1994 received a Masters in the Science of Foreign Service degree from Georgetown University, where he specialized in East Asian studies and the economics of development.

Returning to Japan after graduate school, Mr. Chadwick worked in Tokyo as a market research analyst and opinion pollster for nine years, and was one of the pioneers in internet-based market research in Japan as the first Director of ACNielsen Online Japan. He joined the U.S. Foreign Service in 2003.

His interests include history, cooking and exploring new places. He is accompanied by his wife, a native of Tochigi Prefecture, and their 5-year-old son.