His Excellency Koji Tomita

On February 17, 2021, President Joseph Biden received Ambassador Tomita’s Letter of Credence acknowledging him as Japan’s Ambassador to the United States. Ambassador Tomita’s diplomatic career in the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) spans 40 years.  Most recently, he served as Japan’s Ambassador to Korea, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Personal Representative for the G20 Summit in Osaka, and Ambassador to Israel. His other overseas postings have included London and Paris.

 Apart from his overseas duties, his main professional focus has been on security policy, having been actively involved in the policy and legislative reviews that the Japanese Government undertook in the area in recent years, including Japan’s Legislation for Peace and Security that has increased Japan’s deterrence. 

 His relationship with the United States began when he studied in North Carolina for a year in college. Since he entered MOFA, he has also held leadership positions in US-Japan relations, including Director-General of MOFA’s North American Affairs Bureau and Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of Japan in Washington, DC.  In these capacities, he led the Japanese efforts to strengthen the Japan-US alliance and to promote mutual understandings between the two nations. He was also responsible for the preparation of Prime Minister Abe’s highly successful official visit to the United States in 2015.

 Ambassador Tomita writes in his spare time and has published two books (in Japanese):  Churchill: Leadership in Crisis and Margaret Thatcher: Iron Lady Who Changed Politics.  The latter won the Yamamoto Shichihei Award.

 Ambassador Tomita graduated from the University of Tokyo, Faculty of Law and joined Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1981.  He is married to Noriko, and they have two daughters and a son.

Biography provided by the Embassy of Japan