{"id":173245,"date":"2025-09-26T09:40:04","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T00:40:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/?post_type=news&#038;p=173245&#038;lang=en"},"modified":"2025-09-26T09:40:04","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T00:40:04","slug":"new-u-s-principal-officer-in-fukuoka-sets-priorities","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/news\/new-u-s-principal-officer-in-fukuoka-sets-priorities\/","title":{"rendered":"New U.S. Principal Officer In Fukuoka Sets Priorities"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Virsa Perkins, the Principal Officer at the U.S. Consulate in Fukuoka since July, held her inaugural press conference on September 17. A State Department officer since 2008 with postings in Bangladesh, the Netherlands, and Afghanistan\u2014and four years at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo in economic roles\u2014she pledged to strengthen U.S.\u2013Japan cooperation in the economy and security while deepening community-level exchanges. Speaking in Japanese, she noted personal ties to Japan, including the birth of her twins here. On the Trump administration\u2019s tighter screening of foreign students, she said rigorous vetting must be balanced with facilitating legitimate travel to protect U.S. security. Regarding tariff policy and Kyushu\u2019s auto industry, she said the strong U.S.\u2013Japan economic relationship will remain robust under the current administration. <\/span><b>Source:<\/b> <a href=\"https:\/\/www3.nhk.or.jp\/fukuoka-news\/20250917\/5010029945.html\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NHK<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-173249\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/fnn_virsa-perkins_2025_WEB-003.jpg?resize=1400%2C1050&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Virsa Perkins, the Principal Officer at the U.S. Consulate in Fukuoka\" width=\"1400\" height=\"1050\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/fnn_virsa-perkins_2025_WEB-003.jpg?w=1400&amp;ssl=1 1400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/fnn_virsa-perkins_2025_WEB-003.jpg?resize=300%2C225&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/fnn_virsa-perkins_2025_WEB-003.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/fnn_virsa-perkins_2025_WEB-003.jpg?resize=768%2C576&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stay informed with the latest Fukuoka &amp; Kyushu news and events in English. Sign up for our <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/mailmagazine\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">free weekly newsletter <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">today and never miss a beat. Opt out anytime, your privacy is our priority. Get the inside scoop with <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/mailmagazine\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Now<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Summaries based on public content, errors may occur during translation. Images credited independently. Send feedback using <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/contact\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">this <\/span><b>form<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Virsa Perkins, the Principal Officer at the U.S. Consulate in Fukuoka since July, held her inaugural press conference on September 17&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29305,"featured_media":173249,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"class_list":["post-173245","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","location-fukuoka-prefecture","news-category-general","en-US"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/173245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29305"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173245"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}