HE Mr Yasuo Takase

Japan's first resident Ambassador to Tonga HE Mr Yasuo Takase will leave Tonga in mid-October at the end of a three and a half years term, and will take up a new posting as Ambassador to Jamaica in November.

Today the Ambassador said he was very proud and honoured to have been Japan's first Ambassador, in encouraging and strengthening the close and friendly relations between Tonga and Japan.

"I have experienced many countries but my assignment in Tonga is the highlight of my life as a diplomat", he said.

The establishment of Japan's Embassy in Nuku'alofa and the recent appointment of Tonga's new Ambassador to Japan HE Ms Tania Tupou was a testimony of relations being strengthened.

"Those strong ties also extend to the close relations between Tonga's Royal Family and Japan's Imperial Family," he said.

"I have witnessed many good occasions in Tonga but I note the sad events of the Princess Ashika ferry tragic sinking and the passing of the late king HM King George Tupou V," he said.

Development

The completion of the new Vaiola Hospital funded by Japan was one of the epoch events under his term and in the Tonga-Japan relations. 

The installment of solar home systems in Tonga's outer islands currently underway was also important, he said.

Japan would continue to assist and discuss future development projects for Tonga.

HE Mr Yasuo Takase presented his credentials to the late King George Tupou V on March 18, 2009, in Nuku'alofa, and made many friends during his years in Tonga.

He came to Tonga having been the Director-General of the Scientific and Technological Cooperation Department, Interchange Association of Japan and Deputy Director-General for Fisheries and Ocean Affairs of the Economic Affairs Bureau. He was also the Minister-Counsellor of the Embassy of Japan in Norway and Nigeria.

New Ambassador

HE Dr Kazuchika Hamuro, the Minister-Counsellor of Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations in New York  will take up the appointment to Tonga in late-October.