Hisashi Owada

is a Japanese former jurist, diplomat and law professor. He served as a judge on the International Court of Justice from 2003 until June 7, 2018, and was President of the Court from 2009 to 2012. He is the father of Empress Masako and the father-in-law of the incumbent Emperor of Japan, Naruhito.

Early life and family

Owada was born in Shibata, Niigata Prefecture, Japan, the third of seven children.Hills, Ben. Princess Masako: Prisoner of the Chrysanthemum Throne, pp.35.

Owada's father Takeo is descended from the Owada clan, whose head Shinroku—Masako's 4th-great-grandfatherHills, Ben. Princess Masako: Prisoner of the Chrysanthemum Throne, pp.33.—was called to Murakami in 1787 to serve the Naito clan which the Tokugawa shōgun had installed as the city's rulers sixty-seven years earlier. After the fall of the shogunate, the Owadas participated in a salmon-fishing cooperative, the proceeds of which provided schooling for many local children, including Takeo.

Takeo became principal of a prefectural high school in modern-day Joetsu city and head of its board of education. Takeo and his wife would have seven children, all of whom survived infancy to graduate from university or teaching college. His five sons all graduated from the University of TokyoHills, Ben. Princess Masako: Prisoner of the Chrysanthemum Throne, pp.35-36.—Akira, who would become assistant professor at the University of London and professor at Senshu University; Takashi, who would become a lawyer; Hisashi; Osamu, who would become head of the Japan National Tourist Organization; and Makoto, who would become an inspector at the Ministry of Transportation's Ports and Harbors Bureau. His two daughters Yasuko and Toshiko would marry highly, the former to managing director of Krosaki-Harima Tadashi Katada and the latter to one-time managing director of the Industrial Bank of Japan (IBJ) Kazuhide Kashiwabara.

Career

After earning a B.A. from the University of Tokyo in 1955, Owada passed the civil service examinations to join the Diplomatic and Consular Service, now known as the Foreign Service.

Educator

Owada received sponsorship from the Foreign Ministry to study at Trinity College, Cambridge in the United Kingdom where he earned a law degree in 1959 and later a doctorate of philosophy. Overall he served as a law professor for three decades at the University of Tokyo, Harvard Law School, New York University Law School, Columbia Law School, The Hague Academy of International Law, Waseda University, and the University of Cambridge. In between postings he took semesters as a visiting professor in international treaty law, his specialty, at Harvard and at Oxford. He also served as the Bright International Jurist-in-Residence at the University of Hawaii's William S. Richardson School of Law in 2010. He has received honorary degrees from Keiwa College, Banaras Hindu University, and Waseda University.

Diplomat

Owada's first foreign assignment was Moscow, serving from 1963 to 1969. Immediately following, from 1969 to 1971, was a post at the United Nations in New York, New York.Hills, Ben. Princess Masako: Prisoner of the Chrysanthemum Throne, pp.44.

Returning to Japan, Owada was chosen to accompany Emperor Hirohito on his first postwar trip outside Japan to Europe. From 1976 to 1978, he served as Private Secretary to Takeo Fukuda, the Prime Minister of Japan.

From 1979 to 1981, while serving as visiting professor at Harvard Law School, Owada "remain don the Foreign Ministry payroll with the title of Minister at the Embassy in Washington, and would resume his career with another plum posting the following year." After this, however, the Owadas would move again to Moscow save for Masako, who would stay behind to enroll as a student at Harvard University.

In 1988, Owada was appointed Japanese ambassador to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris. He served for a year before returning to Japan, working first as Deputy Minister and from 1991 to 1993 as Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs.

From 1994 to 1998, he served as Japanese ambassador to the United Nations, where he served twice as United Nations Security Council President.

From 1999 to 2000 Owada then served as senior adviser to the President of the World Bank. Owada was president of the Japan Institute of International Affairs and adviser to the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs until 2003.

Post-Diplomat

Having been re-elected to the ICJ in 2011, Owada's term was set to expire on 5 February 2021 prior to his retirement in June, 2018. He received 170 out of 192 votes in the General Assembly on the first round, more than any other candidate, and 14 out of 15 votes in the Security Council on the first round. Owada had been nominated by the Japanese national group of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (as well as the national groups of 32 other countries).

He is currently a member of the Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute's International Council, and a member of the Crimes Against Humanity Initiative Advisory Council, a project of the Harris Institute at Washington University School of Law in St. Louis to establish the world’s first treaty on the prevention and punishment of crimes against humanity.

Personal life

Wife and children

In 1962, at age 30, Hisashi married 25 year-old Yumiko Egashira, introduced to him by a mutual friend and later employer Takeo Fukuda. A year later, their eldest daughter Masako was born at Toranomon Hospital in Tokyo,Hills, Ben. Princess Masako: Prisoner of the Chrysanthemum Throne, pp.40. followed by twins Reiko and Setsuko in the summer of 1966 in Geneva, Switzerland.

In 1993, Hisashi's daughter Masako Owada, a diplomat in her own right, married Crown Prince Naruhito, the heir to the Japanese Chrysanthemum Throne. Following Emperor Akihito's 2019 abdication, she became empress consort.

Lectures

''Human Security and International Law''
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* ttp://legal.un.org/avl/faculty/Owada.html ''Asia and International Law: A New Era Distinguished Speakers Panel''in th
Lecture Series of the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law


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Notable ICJ cases

* Sovereignty over Pedra Branca/Pulau Batu Puteh, Middle Rocks and South Ledge (Malaysia v. Singapore)
* Pulp Mills on the River Uruguay (Argentina v. Uruguay)
* Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro)
* Jurisdictional Immunities of the State (Germany v. Italy)
* Advisory opinion on Kosovo's declaration of independence

References

International Court of Justice Biography of H.E. President Hisashi Owada



H.E. Judge Hisashi Owada (Japan) Elected the ICJ President
and H.E. Judge Peter Tomka (Slovakia) Elected Vice-Presiden
in 2009-2012
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and ttp://www.mofa.go.jp/whats/2009/index2.html Tokyo MFAan
ASIL
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Japanese Judge Elected World Court's New President
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New President of ICJ Elected
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World News
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page 1: H.E. Judge Hisashi Owada Named ICJ President
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Japanner Owada Is Voorzitter Internationaal Gerechtshof - ICJ, Belgian Nieuwsblad of 6 February 2009
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NRC Handelsblad

Brandeis Institute for International Judges 2007 pages 21 and 34
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Including H.E. Former ICJ President Stephen M. Schwebel and H.E. Judges Hisashi Owada and Peter Tomka

2005 Keynote Speech of H.E. Judge Hisashi Owada
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Distinguished Fellows Lecture of 9 November 2005
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and 12th IDI Commission on Judicial Control of UNSC Decisions of the Institute of International Law an
IDI Members


at newly launched in October 2008 ttp://legal.un.org/avl/faculty-alpha.html UN Audiovisual Library of International Lawan
UN-Law


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UNSG Ban Ki-Moon of 23 March 2009
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UN Photographs
* Philip Jessup's 50t
Anniversary Honorary Committee
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50th Jessup Video
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50th Jessup Programme
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Prize for "Best Jessup Oralist
Launched in Honour of H.E. Former ICJ President Stephen M. Schwebel a
the 103rd ASIL Annual Meeting on International Law as Law, Fairmont Hotel
in Washington, D.C., 25–28 March 2009

Statement of H.E. ICJ President Hisashi Owada to the 64th UNGA of 29 October 2009
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* Solemn Tribute of H.E. ICJ President Hisashi Owada to the memory of Professor Shabtai Rosenne, i
''Nicaragua v. Colombia Territorial and Maritime Dispute (Costa Rica's Intervention)'' Oral HearingsCR 2010/12, at p. 10 of 11 October 2010
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UN 6th Committee Pays Respect to the Israeli Jurist Shabtai Rosenne of 6 October 2010
and
Shabtai Rosenne Obituary: Eminent International Lawyer, Teacher and Israeli Diplomat by Malcolm Shaw of 12 October 2010
an
In Memoriam Shabtai Rosenne (24 November 1917-21 September 2010)
b
Prof. B. Kwiatkowska
i
26 IJMCL 1-3 (2011 No.1) & NILOS Papers

Who's Who in Public International Law 2007

{{DEFAULTSORT:Owada, Hisashi
1932 births
Living people
Japanese judges
Presidents of the International Court of Justice
Permanent Representatives of Japan to the United Nations
Ambassadors of Japan to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
World Bank people
Harvard Law School faculty
Columbia Law School faculty
New York University faculty
Waseda University faculty
William S. Richardson School of Law faculty
The Hague Academy of International Law people
People from Niigata Prefecture
University of Tokyo alumni
Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge
Grand Crosses with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Japanese judges of United Nations courts and tribunals
Members of the Institut de Droit International
Japanese legal scholars