is a Japanese diplomat, and former imperial prince. He was born in Shinkyo, then the capital of

Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of (Great) Manchuria after 1934, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China, Manchuria from 1932 until 1945. It was founded as a republic in 1932 afte ...

Biography

Takeda is the second son of former Prince Takeda Tsuneyoshi (1909–1992), the second head of the

Takeda-no-miya The Takeda (竹田) ''ōke'' (princely house) was the tenth and youngest branch of the Japanese Imperial Family created from branches of the Fushimi-no-miya house. The Takeda-no-miya house was formed by Prince Tsunehisa, eldest son of Prince Ki ...

collateral branch of the

Imperial Family of Japan The , also referred to as the Imperial Family or the House of Yamato, comprises those members of the extended family of the reigning Emperor of Japan who undertake official and public duties. Under the present Constitution of Japan, the Emperor i ...

. His mother is former Princess Sanjō Mitsuko. At the time of his birth, he was styled as a prince, but at the age of three in 1947, when all collateral branches of the imperial family were abolished by the American occupation authorities, he became a commoner. A graduate of

Keio University , mottoeng = The pen is mightier than the sword , type = Private research coeducational higher education institution , established = 1858 , founder = Yukichi Fukuzawa , endowmen ...

, Takeda excelled in sports, including

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

and

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

. He married the daughter of Shigeru Okada, the president of

Mitsukoshi is an international department store chain with headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. It is a subsidiary of Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings, which also owns the Isetan department store chain. History It was founded in 1673 with the (shop name) , selli ...

Department Stores soon after graduation. The couple have two children. Takeda worked as a businessman for the general trading company

Itochu is a Japanese corporation based in Umeda, Kita-ku, Osaka and Aoyama, Minato, Tokyo. It is one of the largest Japanese ''sogo shosha'' (general trading companies). Among Japanese trading companies, it is distinguished by not being descend ...

from 1967 to 2005, and was president of Chuo Setsubi Engineering, a food processing company, from 2005 to 2007. From August 7, 2007, Takeda became Japanese ambassador and

Plenipotentiary A ''plenipotentiary'' (from the Latin ''plenus'' "full" and ''potens'' "powerful") is a diplomat who has full powers—authorization to sign a treaty or convention on behalf of his or her sovereign. When used as a noun more generally, the word ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

External links

* in Bulgarian
Speech of the Ambassador Takeda
{{DEFAULTSORT:Takeda, Tsuneharu 1944 births Living people People from Changchun People from Tokyo Keio University alumni Takeda-no-miya Japanese princes Ambassadors of Japan to Bulgaria Itochu people