WELCOME: New Japan Ambassador Hiroshi SUZUKI, a close aide of former PM Shinzo ABE arrives in India

NEW DELHI: Japan’s new Ambassador to India Hiroshi Suzuki (61) has arrived in India to assume his new responsibility at the Embassy of Japan in New Delhi. Having served very high-profile diplomatic positions across the globe, Ambassador Hiroshi Suzuki also worked very closely with the former Japan Prime Minister late Shinzo Abe in responsible positions. At the PM House, Suzuki worked as a spokesperson for the International Press and as Private Secretary to Prime Minister Shinzo ABE.

In addition to being appointed as Senior Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs G7 and G20 Sherpa in July 2020, he was also appointed as an Advisor, Special Secretariat for the State Funeral for Shinzo Abe in July 2022.

In India, Hiroshi Suzuki succeeds Ambassador Satoshi Suzuki who after the completion of his two-year and 11-month term left for Japan on September 28. Satoshi Suzuki has joined as Ambassador of Italy. Minister and Deputy Chief of Mission KAWAZU Kunihiko officiated as Ambassador of Japan in India as Chargé d’affaires ad interim between September 29 and November 9, 2022 in the absence of a full-time Ambassador at the Japan Embassy in New Delhi.

The new ambassador to India and Bhutan Hiroshi Suzuki who has also served as a senior deputy minister for foreign affairs and minister at the Japanese embassies in London and Seoul, assumed his new responsibility on Thursday, November 10.

Year 2005:  Private Secretary to Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo ABE

Year 2006: Spokesperson for International Press for PM Shinzo ABE

Year 2012: Private Secretary to Prime Minister Shinzo ABE

Year 2022: Advisor, Special Secretariat, State Funeral for Shinzo ABE

Born in Kyoto City and raised in Uji City in Kyoto Prefecture, a famous place for green tea cultivation, Suzuki attended Middle School and Senior High School in Kyoto City, and later went to Tokyo for higher studies in university. He completed B.A. at the Faculty of Law, University of Tokyo in 1985, and did his M.A. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, the graduate school of international affairs of Tufts University, in Medford, Massachusetts. The School is one of America’s oldest graduate schools of international relations and is well-ranked in its masters and doctoral programs.

Born on June 5, 1961, Suzuki knows Japanese and English languages. His professional career took off in April 1985 when he had Joined on-the-job training at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  In 1988, he worked in the Japanese Embassy in Washington DC for two years.

“At that time it was the height of Japan-US trade negotiations, and I had long, hard hours. On average I slept three or four hours a day,” recalled Ambassador Suzuki in an interview when he joined the Embassy of Japan in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland as Minister in July 2011.

Demographics

Name: Hiroshi SUZUKI

Date of Birth: June 5, 1961 (Kyoto City)

Language: Japanese, English

Professional Career:

April 1985: Joined Ministry of Foreign Affairs

July 1988: Embassy of Japan in the United States of America

August 1990: Southwest Asia Division, Asian Affairs Bureau

July 1992: Deputy Director, First North America Division, North American Affairs Bureau

February 1995: Deputy Director, WTO Division, Economic Affairs Bureau

January 1997: Principle Deputy Director, First West Europe Division, European Affairs Bureau

July 1999: Political Counsellor, Embassy of Japan in Italy

October 2002: Political Counsellor, Embassy of Japan in the Islamic Republic of Iran

August 2004: Director, Fourth Division, Intelligence and Analysis Service

October 2005: Private Secretary to Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo ABE

September 2006: Spokesperson for International Press for PM Shinzo ABE

January 2008: Director, International Press Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

January 2009: Minister, Embassy of Japan in the Republic of Korea

July 2011: Minister, Embassy of Japan in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland December 2012 Private Secretary to Prime Minister Shinzo ABE

July 2020: Senior Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs G7 and G20 Sherpa

July 2022: Advisor, Special Secretariat for the State Funeral for former Prime Minister ABE Shinzo

September 2022: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to India Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to the Kingdom of Bhutan (Concurrently)

Education:

1985 The University of Tokyo (Faculty of Law, B.A.)

1988 The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (M.A.)

From 1990 onwards for almost 10 years he worked in the Foreign Ministry headquarters, Tokyo handling four different portfolios. First, he was a desk officer for South Asia for two years until 1992 as an in charge of India and Pakistan. Next he moved on to the political division covering North America from 1992 to 1995. He was Deputy Director and was involved in the management of Japan-US relations from the political perspective.

With the establishment of the WTO in 1995, Hiroshi Suzuki became Deputy Director of the WTO division. His fourth job in Tokyo was Principal Deputy Director for the political division covering Western Europe. For two and a half years he was involved in advancing relations between Japan and Western European countries, and also with the EU and NATO.

As his overseas assignment in 1999, he was posted in Rome, where he served as Political Counsellor for more than two years. In summer 2001 the Genoa G8 Summit was held, where clashes were so severe that a demonstrator got killed for the first time ever in the history of the G8.

Immediately after 9/11 incident happened, he was transferred to Tehran in October 2002 as Political Counsellor, Embassy of Japan in the Islamic Republic of Iran. In August 2004, he became Director, Fourth Division, Intelligence and Analysis Service, Tokyo where his primary task was to analyse the situation in the Middle East. At that time, Japan’s Ground Self-Defence Forces were stationed in Al-Samawa, Iraq, and much of his work was to follow very closely political and security developments in that country.

In summer 2005 Ambassador Hiroshi Suzuki was seconded to the Prime Minister’s Office and became Private Secretary to the Chief Cabinet Secretary, or Kanbo-chokan (the No. 2 minister in the Cabinet). He first served Hiroyuki Hosoda for two months and then Shinzo Abe for a year.

When Abe became the Prime Minister in September 2006, he became Deputy Cabinet Secretary for Public Relations, which is essentially the Prime Minister’s spokesman for the international press. He served in that capacity for one and a half years – one year under Prime Minister Abe and six months under Prime Minister Fukuda.

He returned to the Foreign Ministry in January 2008 after finishing up his secondment to the Prime Minister’s Office, and became Director for the International Press, serving as the Foreign Ministry spokesman for the international press for one year. In 2009 he was stationed in Seoul for two and a half years. He also served as the Director of the Japan Information and Cultural Centre in Seoul.

After joining the Embassy of Japan in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland as Minister in 2011, he was appointed Private Secretary to Prime Minister Shinzo ABE in December 2012.