Posted on: Thursday, September 12, 2002

Japanese consul leaving in October

By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer

Minoru Shibuya, the Japanese consul general in Honolulu, will leave his post by early October to take another assignment in Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

He will be succeeded by Masatoshi Muto, currently serving as minister and deputy chief of mission at the Japanese Embassy in Australia. Hiroko Taniguchi, a spokeswoman for the consulate in Honolulu, said details on Shibuya's next assignment have not been announced.

A dinner is set for Sept. 24 to honor Shibuya, 55, who has been at the consulate's helm for two years.

The consul general's most challenging responsibility while representing his country here was in coping with the fallout of the sinking of the Japanese training vessel Ehime Maru by the Navy submarine USS Greeneville. The accident occurred Feb. 9, 2001, just four months after Shibuya was posted to Hawai'i.

Shibuya graduated from the University of Tokyo in March 1970 and joined Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs a month later. During the next 30 years, he represented his country at the United Nations and in Indonesia, Thailand, Italy and the United States.

Before his Honolulu assignment, Shibuya served as deputy director-general, North American Affairs Bureau, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tokyo.

The consul general serves as Japan's representative in Hawai'i and American Samoa. The Consulate General Office was established in Hawai'i in November 1885.

The Sept. 24 dinner, an annual event sponsored by The Japan-America Society of Hawaii, will begin with no-host cocktails at 5:30 p.m. at the Sheraton Waikiki Beach Resort's Kauai and Maui ballrooms. Individual tickets cost $150; table sponsorships also are available. Information: 524-4450.

Shibuya and his wife, Harumi, both active supporters of the society, will be honored at a free reception from 4 to 6 p.m.. in the hotel's Niihau Suite. The public is invited to the reception.