Rui Matsukawa (MSFS’97) was elected to the Japanese House of Councillors in 2016. A Liberal Democrat Party member, she represents the Osaka prefecture in the upper house of the National Diet of Japan. Matsukawa’s interest in pursuing a career in diplomacy and public service was sparked by the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989, a seismic shift of the international stage. At the time, Matsukawa was in her first year at Tokyo University. “The fact that the Cold War suddenly ended inspired me very much and made me decide to engage in international politics,” Matsukawa explains. Deciding between a career as a scholar of international politics or a diplomat, she chose the latter ultimately due to her desire to work for Japan’s national interest. She joined the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1993 as First Secretary of the Delegation of Japan to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva. A few years later, she decided to continue her study of international affairs at Georgetown’s Master of Science in Foreign Service program.