is the current

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese Vice-

Minister for Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...

in charge of administration. Prior to his current position, Yabunaka served as Ministry of Foreign Affair's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau Director-General. He has been a diplomat for nearly forty years.Potter (2000).

Diplomacy

Before entering government service, Yabunaka was a senior researcher at the

International Institute for Strategic Studies The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) is a British research institute or think tank in the area of international affairs. Since 1997, its headquarters have been Arundel House in London, England. The 2017 Global Go To Think ...

from 1990-1991. In 1998, Yabunaka became

Consul General A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...

of Japan in Chicago US, and visited the country on several occasions. Yabunaka has represented Japan on a number of occasions, and has negotiated trade deals with the United States, Australia, and

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guinea. In ...

. He has had contact with a number of United States diplomats, including hosting current

United States Ambassador to Japan The is the ambassador from the United States of America to Japan. History Since the opening of Japan by Commodore Matthew C. Perry, in 1854, the U.S. has maintained diplomatic relations with Japan, except for the ten-year period between the at ...

John Roos John Victor Roos (born February 14, 1955) is an American businessman, attorney, and diplomat who served as United States Ambassador to Japan from 2009 to 2013. He is the Founding Partner of Geodesic Capital. Before accepting the ambassadorship f ...

shortly following Roos' appointment. During the first, second, and third rounds of the

Six-party talks The six-party talks aimed to find a peaceful resolution to the security concerns as a result of the North Korean nuclear weapons program. There was a series of meetings with six participating states in Beijing: * China * Japan * North Kore ...

, Yabunaka represented Japan as chief delegate. The Japanese government also sent Yabanuka as a delegate to China to discuss issues of natural gas reserves under the

East China Sea The East China Sea is an arm of the Western Pacific Ocean, located directly offshore from East China. It covers an area of roughly . The sea’s northern extension between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula is the Yellow Sea, separated ...

. He handled

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

relations during the Kenji Nagai shooting incident, demanding an investigation and challenging governmental claims. Yabunaka replaced

Toshiyuki Takano is a Japanese Ambassador to Germany, previously to South Korea (2002–2005) and Singapore (2001). In February 2005 he sparked a controversy in South Korea when he stated that the Liancourt Rocks in the Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the m ...

as Director-General of Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau in 2002. In 2008, Yabunaka held talks with

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its ea ...

n Ambassador Kwon Chul Hyun over disputed islets in the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it h ...

.Xinhua (2008).

Notes

References

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Yabunaka, Mitoji Japanese diplomats 1948 births Living people Government ministers of Japan Osaka University alumni Osaka University faculty