Ichiro Fujisaki

Ambassador of Japan


Ambassador Fujisaki 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, the Ambassador 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, the Ambassador 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. The Ambassador 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.

Ambassador 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 in Washington, the Ambassador has spoken at Brigham Young University, Columbia, Georgetown, Harvard, SAIS, Saint Joseph’s University, Stanford, and Yale as well as at several think-tanks in Washington, DC, such as AEI, Brookings Institution, CSIS, Carnegie Endowment, and Stimson Center. He speaks English and French fluently.

Links for Ichiro Fujisaki
2012 Fall Symposium
Bulletin of August 20, 2012


This page last updated August 20, 2012 jdb