List of ambassadors of Japan to the Philippines

The ambassador of Japan to the Philippines (Japanese: 駐フィリピン共和国日本国大使, romanized: Chū firipinkyōwakoku Nipponkoku taishi; Filipino: Sugo ng Hapon sa Pilipinas) is the head of the Japanese diplomatic mission in the Philippines and the official representative of the government of Japan to the government of the Philippines. Diplomatic relations between the Philippines and Japan began in 1888 when a Japanese consulate was established in Manila, and it was upgraded to an embassy in 1943, right after the inauguration of the Second Philippine Republic. Relations were suspended in 1945, after the surrender of Japan to the Allied forces, and the post remained dormant until 1952, when the Japanese government sent its minister to Manila. On 23 July 1956, the position of ambassador was reestablished after the ratification of the Peace Treaty and Reparations Agreement between the Philippines and Japan.^[3]

Ambassador of Japan to the Republic of the Philippines
駐フィリピン共和国日本国大使 Sugo ng Hapon sa Republika ng Pilipinas
Imperial Seal of Japan
Incumbent Kazuya Endo since 4 April 2024[1]
Style	His Excellency
Seat	2627 Roxas Boulevard, Pasay, Metro Manila, Philippines[2]
Appointer	Emperor of Japan
Term length	No fixed term
Inaugural holder	Ukemichi Yatabe (consul general) Shōzō Murata (ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary)
Formation	16 November 1888 (consulate) 14 October 1943 (ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary)
Website	Japanese Embassy, Manila

The embassy of Japan in the Philippines is based in Pasay City, Metro Manila.^[4] The position has the rank of Ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary.

List of ambassadors

Consuls and consuls general during the Spanish and American colonial periods

Head of mission	Tenure  begins	Tenure  ends	Japanese emperor	Japanese prime minister	Accredited during the Government of	Note(s)
Atsushi Kimura	1931	1935	Hirohito	Hamaguchi Osachi Kijūrō Shidehara Wakatsuki Reijirō Inukai Tsuyoshi Takahashi Korekiyo Saitō Makoto Keisuke Okada	Frank Murphy (as Governor-General of the Philippines; later High Commissioner to the Philippines)	First Secretary of the Japanese Legation at Warsaw, Poland on 4 May 1935.[5]
Kiyoshi Uchiyama[6][7]	1935	1943		Keisuke Okada Fumio Gotō Kōki Hirota Senjūrō Hayashi Fumimaro Konoe Kiichirō Hiranuma Nobuyuki Abe Mitsumasa Yonai Fumimaro Konoe Hideki Tōjō	Manuel L. Quezon (as President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines)	Credentials were presented on July 19, 1935.

Ambassadors

Head of mission	Tenure  begins	Tenure  ends	Japanese emperor	Japanese prime minister	Philippine president	Notes
Shōzō Murata	1943	1945	Hirohito	Hideki Tōjō Kuniaki Koiso Kantarō Suzuki Naruhiko Higashikuni Kijūrō Shidehara	Jose P. Laurel (as President of the Second Philippine Republic) Sergio Osmeña (as President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines)[a]
Diplomatic relations were suspended until 1952 due to the surrender of Japan to the Allied forces. The post was re-established in 1952 as minister plenipotentiary. In 1956, the post was elevated to ambassador status as the Philippines and Japan resumed their diplomatic relations, and their friendship agreement was signed.
Tōru Nakagawa	1952	1953	Hirohito	Hitoshi Ashida Shigeru Yoshida	Elpidio Quirino
Katsumi Ōno	1953	1955		Shigeru Yoshida Ichirō Hatoyama	Elpidio Quirino Ramon Magsaysay
Kōichirō Asakai[8]	1956	1957		Tanzan Ishibashi Nobusuke Kishi	Ramon Magsaysay	Recalled to the home service on 17 June 1957.[9]
Morio Yukawa	1957	1961		Nobusuke Kishi Hayato Ikeda	Carlos P. Garcia
Jun Tsuchiya	1961	1962		Hayato Ikeda Eisaku Satō	Diosdado Macapagal
Osamu Itagaki	1962	1965				Credentials were presented to Diosdado Macapagal on 6 June 1962.[10]
Harumi Takeuchi	1965	1967		Eisaku Satō Kakuei Tanaka	Ferdinand Marcos
Masao Kanazawa	1967	1968
Takeshi Yasukawa	1968	1969				Conferred the Order of Sikatuna on 18 November 1969.[11]
Toshio Urabe	1969	1974				Conferred the Order of Sikatuna on 16 July 1974.[11]
Masao Sawaki	1974	1977		Takeo Miki Takeo Fukuda
Kiyohisa Miwa	1977	1979		Takeo Fukuda Masayoshi Ōhira Masayoshi Ito Zenkō Suzuki Yasuhiro Nakasone
Hideho Tanaka	1980	1983
Yoshio Okawa	1983	1985		Yasuhiro Nakasone Noboru Takeshita
Kiyoshi Sumiya	1985	1988			Ferdinand Marcos Corazon Aquino	Conferred the Order of Sikatuna on 16 February 1988.[12]
Tsuneo Tanaka[13]	1988	1990	Hirohito Akihito	Noboru Takeshita Sōsuke Uno Toshiki Kaifu	Corazon Aquino	Conferred the Order of Sikatuna on 16 October 1990.[11]
Toshio Goto[14]	1990	1992	Akihito	Toshiki Kaifu Kiichi Miyazawa		Credentials were presented to Corazon Aquino on the week of November 4–11, 1990.[14]
Hirokazu Arai	1992	1994		Kiichi Miyazawa Morihiro Hosokawa Tsutomu Hata Tomiichi Murayama	Corazon Aquino Fidel V. Ramos
Yoshifumi Matsuda	1994	1996		Tomiichi Murayama	Fidel V. Ramos
Hiroyuki Yushita[15]	1996	1999		Ryutaro Hashimoto Keizō Obuchi	Fidel V. Ramos Joseph Estrada
Yoshihisa Ara	1999	2002		Keizō Obuchi Yoshirō Mori Junichiro Koizumi	Joseph Estrada Gloria Macapagal Arroyo	Conferred the Order of Sikatuna on 15 April 2002.[11]
Kojiro Takano	2002	2004		Junichiro Koizumi Shinzo Abe Yasuo Fukuda	Gloria Macapagal Arroyo	Conferred the Order of Sikatuna on 13 October 2004.[11]
Ryuichiro Yamazaki	2004	2007
Makoto Katsura	2007	2011		Yasuo Fukuda Tarō Asō Yukio Hatoyama Naoto Kan Yoshihiko Noda	Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Benigno Aquino III	Credentials were presented to Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on 2 October 2007.[16]
Toshinao Urabe	2011	2014		Yoshihiko Noda Shinzo Abe	Benigno S. Aquino III
Kazuhide Ishikawa	2014	2017		Shinzo Abe Yoshihide Suga	Benigno Aquino III Rodrigo Duterte	Credentials were presented to Benigno Aquino III on 27 November 2014.[17]
Kouji Haneda	2017[18][19]	2020	Akihito Naruhito		Rodrigo Duterte	Credentials were presented to Rodrigo Duterte on 25 October 2017.[20]
Kazuhiko Koshikawa	2020[21]	2024	Naruhito	Yoshihide Suga Fumio Kishida	Rodrigo Duterte Bongbong Marcos	Credentials were presented to Rodrigo Duterte on 14 December 2020.[22][23]
Kazuya Endo	2024	present		Fumio Kishida Shigeru Ishiba	Bongbong Marcos	Credentials were presented to Bongbong Marcos on 4 April 2024.[1]

Notes

1. Until 1945, Laurel served as President of the Second Philippine Republic (of which the former served as a puppet state of Imperial Japan), while Osmeña served as the president of the government in exile.

See also

• Embassy of the Philippines, Tokyo
• List of ambassadors of the Philippines to Japan
• Japan–Philippines relations
• Foreign relations of the Philippines
• Foreign relations of Japan