Takashi Imamura, Director, Building Guidance Division Housing Bureau, MLIT, JAPAN

After joining the Japanese Ministry of Construction in 1992, Mr. Imamura has mainly served in the housing and city bureaus. He was seconded to UNESCO in Paris from 2007 to 2010 to deal with disaster risk reduction. He also worked at the Secretariat for Regional Development Promotion of the Cabinet Office of Japan, as well as Takarazuka municipal government. He is currently supervising the building regulations in Japan, including the structural and fire safety regulations. He also supervises energy efficiency standards and reduction of embodied carbon of buildings. He graduated from the University of Tokyo in 1990 and Harvard Kennedy School in 2001.