Arfiya Eri
Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, Member of the House of Representatives
Arfiya Eri is a three-term Member of the House of Representatives, representing the Chiba 5th district (Ichikawa City & Urayasu City), located just outside of Tokyo. She also currently serves as Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, in charge of Europe, Central Eurasia, Latin America, the Caribbean, international development including Official Development Assistance, and global-level issues. She was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2023, and selected to the TIME 100 NEXT list of global emerging leaders shaping the future in the same year. She was appointed Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs in the Second Ishiba Cabinet in November 2024, and reappointed in the first and second Takaichi cabinets in October 2025 and February 2026, respectively. Prior to entering politics, she worked for the United Nations Secretariat in New York from 2016-2022, in various roles such as Special Assistant to the UN Assistant-Secretary General, and for the Bank of Japan from 2012-2016. She holds a B.Sc in Foreign Service and an M.A. in Eurasian, Russian, and East European Studies, both from Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. She speaks 7 languages: Japanese, English, Uyghur, Uzbek, Chinese, Turkish, and beginning-level Arabic.