ICHIRO FUJISAKI
Ambassador of Japan to the United States

                                              May 2009

“It's great to be back in this great country at a great moment,” Ichiro Fujisaki quipped when he started his duties as the Ambassador of Japan to the United States in June 2008.

He has served as the political minister of the Embassy of Japan in Washington, DC, from 1995-99. His association with the United States goes back even further. It started with a year in the early 1960’s as a junior high school student in Seattle, Washington. He also studied one year each at Brown University and Stanford University Graduate School in the early 1970’s.

As a diplomat, he has also served in Jakarta, Paris (OECD), and London. Prior to his current post, he served as Ambassador to the UN and to the WTO in Geneva. While there, he served as the Chairman of the Executive Committee of UNHCR (UN High Commissioner for Refugees).

In the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tokyo, he has held such posts as Deputy Director-General for Asian Affairs and Director-General for North American Affairs before being appointed as the Deputy Foreign Minister. He has also served as the Sherpa, or the personal representative, of the Prime Minister to G8 Summit meetings.

His wife Yoriko attended kindergarten at Ben Murch in Washington, DC. Their two daughters also attended school in the Washington area. The elder daughter Mari graduated from Stone Ridge High School in Bethesda, MD. The younger daughter Emi studied at the same school as well as at Somerset Elementary School in Montgomery County, MD. Both daughters now work as journalists in Japan.

The Fujisakis’ dog Skipper is also a returnee to Washington, DC. The thirteen year old black Labrador was with the Fujisakis in Washington through the Puppy Walker Program of the Guide Dog Foundation in the late 1990’s. Skipper eventually became a police dog (K9) and was presented to Italy by the US Government. As Skipper still remembered the Fujisakis when they met again at the Milan Airport in Italy ten years after their separation, the Fujisakis adopted him after his retirement, and the dog accompanied them from Geneva to Washington last year.

Fujisaki was a research associate at IISS (International Institute for Strategic Studies) in London from 1987-88. He taught as a lecturer of International Relations at Sophia University in Tokyo from 1991-95. Since his arrival, he has spoken at Harvard, Columbia, Georgetown, SAIS, Stanford, and Yale as well as at several think-tanks in Washington, DC, such as the Brookings Institution, AEI, Carnegie Endowment, CSIS, and Stimson Center. He speaks English and French fluently.

During his tenure, Fujisaki aims to visit as many states, cities, and places as possible. “I enjoy meeting new people. I also know well that important as it may be, ‘inside the beltway’ is only one part of this great country,” he says.

Ambassador Fujisaki's Speeches