A Japanese national, Kaori Nakamura-Osaka has extensive experience in employment, labour, youth and international policy, previously serving as Deputy Assistant Minister and Director for International Affairs at Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW). She was a member of the MHLW’s COVID-19 Countermeasure Headquarters and has extensive leadership experience in disaster relief responses.
Past posts also include: Director for International Youth Exchange and Director for Ageing Society Policy at the Cabinet Office of Japan; and Vice Governor of Kagoshima Prefecture, where she led policy priorities including agriculture and fisheries, public health, commerce and industry, child policy, welfare and gender. She also served at the Embassy of Japan in the United States.
Kaori Nakamura-Osaka holds an M.A. in Public Administration from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Tokyo. She is based at the ILO’s Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok, Thailand.