Shunji Yanai

Shunji Yanai entered the Foreign Ministry in 1961 after graduating in law from the University of Tokyo. International legal affairs became a major part of his career: he headed the Treaties Bureau and Law of the Sea Headquarters before becoming vice minister in 1997. He was appointed ambassador to the United States in 1999. ¹

After the collision between the American submarine USS Greeneville and the Japanese vessel Ehime Maru in February 2001, Yanai joined Senior Vice Minister Seishiro Eto at a Pentagon meeting with Deputy Secretary Rudy de Leon to discuss the collision. ²

After leaving government service, Yanai taught public international law at Chuo and Waseda universities. He joined the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in 2005 and served as its president from 2011 to 2014. His judicial tenure continued until 2023. ^{1, 3}