Japan appoints new ambassadors

September 27, 2019

Tokyo--The Japanese government Friday appointed six new ambassadors, including Kenji Hiramatsu, ambassador to India and Bhutan, as ambassador to Spain, effective the same day.

Hiramatsu, 62, who joined the Foreign Ministry in 1979, took up the post of ambassador to India in November 2015.

The government also approved the resignation, effective Tuesday, of Hajime Hayashi as ambassador to Belgium and to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as he is set to become assistant chief cabinet secretary.

Ambassador to Canada Kimihiro Ishikane will be relieved from his concurrent post of ambassador to the International Civil Aviation Organization on Wednesday.

Following are the other five new ambassadors, who are set to take office on Wednesday, with their key previous or current posts in parentheses:

Genichi Terasawa, 63, ambassador to Samoa (consul-general in Jeju, South Korea)

Takeshi Okubo, 61, ambassador to Lebanon (counsellor at embassy in Israel)

Hiroshi Oka, 60, ambassador to Malaysia (ambassador to Turkey)

Satoshi Suzuki, 60, ambassador to India (director-general at the Foreign Ministry's Foreign Policy Bureau)

Isao Fukushima, 59, ambassador to ICAO (senior coordinate for personnel affairs at the Foreign Ministry) Jiji Press