Ryohei Murata

Ryohei Murata was born in 1929 and studied law at Kyoto University. His Foreign Ministry career included treaty work, the ambassadorship to the United Arab Emirates, direction of the Middle Eastern and African Affairs and Economic Affairs bureaus, and service as ambassador to Austria. He became administrative vice minister before representing Japan in Washington and later Germany. ¹

On June 11, 1991, Murata and U.S. Trade Representative Carla Hills signed a renewed semiconductor agreement in Washington. The negotiations addressed a major source of trade friction: American producers' access to Japan's chip market and allegations that Japanese companies were selling below fair value. The renewal followed negotiations led on the American side by Deputy Trade Representative Linn Williams and changed the mechanisms used in the earlier agreement. ²

After retirement, Murata advised the Foreign Ministry until 2002 and became a special adviser to the Nippon Foundation. His book Looking Back on Japanese Diplomacy, 1952–2002 brought together experiences including his American and German assignments and his work organizing Emperor Hirohito's funeral. In 2009 he publicly described being briefed on a secret nuclear understanding with the United States; the Foreign Ministry initially denied that any such understanding existed. ^{1, 3}