List of ambassadors of Japan to Australia

The ambassador of Japan to Australia is an officer of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the head of the Embassy of Japan to the Commonwealth of Australia. The position has the rank and status of an ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary and holds non-resident accreditation for Fiji and Papua New Guinea. The ambassador is based at the embassy at 112 Empire Circuit, Yarralumla in Canberra. The Ambassador is currently Kazuhiro Suzuki.

Ambassador of Japan to Australia
Incumbent Kazuhiro Suzuki since 1 March 2023
Style	His Excellency
Appointer	Naruhito
Inaugural holder	Tatsuo Kawai
Formation	2 January 1941
Website	Embassy of Japan in Australia

Japan and Australia have enjoyed full diplomatic relations since 1941 when Tatsuo Kawai was appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Japan to Australia, although relations were severed after less than a year owing to the outbreak of the Pacific War in December 1941. Relations were restored in 1952 and have continued since then.

Office-holders

Minister

Incumbent	Start of term	End of term	Notes
Tatsuo Kawai	2 January 1941	7 December 1941	[1]
Suspension of relations

Ambassadors, 1952–present

Incumbent	Start of term	End of term	Notes
Haruhiko Nishi	10 September 1952	14 June 1955	[2]
Tadakatsu Suzuki	14 June 1955	11 March 1959	[3]
Katsushiro Narita	March 1959	7 April 1961	[4]
Saburo Ohta	7 April 1961	30 December 1965	[5]
Koh Chiba	30 December 1965	18 August 1967	[6]
Fumihiko Kai	18 August 1967	5 December 1969	[7]
Shizuo Saito	5 December 1969	7 August 1973	[8]
Kenzo Yoshida	7 August 1973	20 January 1976	[9]
Yoshio Okawara	20 January 1976	February 1980	[10]
Mizuo Kuroda	April 1980	October 1982	[11]
Kensuke Yanagiya	2 December 1982	December 1984	[12]
Toshijiro Nakajima	December 1984	August 1987	[13]
Kenichi Yanagi	November 1987	March 1990	[14]
Hiromu Fukada	March 1990	7 February 1992	[15]
Kazutoshi Hasegawa	7 February 1992	1996	[16]
Yukio Satoh	1996	1998	[17]
Masaji Takahashi	September 1998	January 2001	[18][19]
Atsushi Hatakenaka	January 2001	September 2003
Kenzo Oshima	September 2003	December 2004
Hideaki Ueda	January 2005	September 2007
Takaaki Kojima	September 2007	July 2010	[20]
Shigekazu Sato	July 2010	November 2012
Yoshitaka Akimoto	November 2012	April 2015
Sumio Kusaka	April 2015	January 2019	[21]
Reiichiro Takahashi	January 2019	December 2020	[22]
Shingo Yamagami	February 2021	March 2023	[23]
Kazuhiro Suzuki	March 2023	Present	[24]

See also

• List of ambassadors of Australia to Japan