Career
He was appointed to this position by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon on 2 September 2008. Between 1995 and 2000, he worked at the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations. In between his service with the United Nations, he had been posted to the Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations in New York twice, from 1987 to 1991 and 2003 to 2007.
Kawakami obtained his degree in political science from Waseda University in Tokyo.
Kawakami died while serving in Dili, East Timor, on 14 March 2010.
