Current and Former Officers

The current officers of the HLSAJ are:

A list of former officers is available below.

Minoru Nakazato (President)

Minoru Nakazato is a member of the faculty of the University of Tokyo Graduate Schools for Law and Politics. Professor Nakazato’s teaching, research, and professional activities are focused primarily on international and domestic tax law and also include public finance and law and economics. Professor Nakazato, along with Professor Mark Ramseyer ’82, coordinates the University of Tokyo’s exchange program with Harvard Law School.

 

Professor Nakazato graduated with an LL.B. from the University of Tokyo Faculty of Law in 1978 and joined the faculty of the University of Tokyo Graduate Schools for Law and Politics in 1995. Professor Nakazato was also a visiting professor at Harvard Law School in 2004. In 2000, Professor Nakazato became a special member of the Japanese Prime Minister’s Tax Commission. In 2013, he became the chairman of the Tax Commission, a position he currently holds.

 

Professor Nakazato was elected President of the HLSAJ in 2014.

Takeo Kosugi (Vice President)

Takeo Kosugi ’72 is a partner at Matsuo & Kosugi. Mr. Kosugi graduated with an LL.B. from the University of Tokyo Faculty of Law in 1966. Mr. Kosugi served as a judge for several years prior to receiving his LL.M. from Harvard Law School in 1972, where he was also a visiting scholar in 1974.

 

In 1974, Mr. Kosugi left judicial office to enter private practice, joining Matsuo Law Offices (currently Matsuo & Kosugi) and then working overseas in New York and Paris. Mr. Kosugi has since served as an instructor at Waseda University and Tsukuba University and held a variety of government council positions. Since 2001, he has served as the director of the Japanese American Society for Legal Studies.

 

Mr. Kosugi was elected Vice President of the HLSAJ in 2008.

Kazuo Ohtake (Vice President)

 

Kazuo Ohtake ’83 is a partner at Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu. Mr. Ohtake graduated with an LL.B. from the University of Tokyo Faculty of Law in 1976 and with an LL.M. from Harvard Law School in 1983. Mr. Ohtake trained as a foreign lawyer from 1983 to 1984 in New York and from 1984 to 1985 in London. He served as a professor at the University of Tokyo Graduate Schools for Law and Politics for three years from April 2010.

 

Mr. Ohtake practices all areas of business law, with a special focus on intellectual property law in recent years. He is one of the founding members of Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu’s Intellectual Property Practice Group.

 

Mr. Ohtake was elected Secretary & Treasurer of the HLSAJ in 1993. Mr. Ohtake was elected Vice President of the HLSAJ in 2017.

Masaki Hosaka (Secretary & Treasurer)

 

Masaki Hosaka ’95 is a Managing Partner at Nishimura & Asahi. Mr. Hosaka received his LL.B. from the University of Tokyo Faculty of Law in 1987 and received his LL.M. from Harvard Law School in 1995. Mr. Hosaka worked at Debevoise & Plimpton in New York from 1995 to 1996. He was also a lecturer at Chuo University from 1999 to 2006 and a lecturer at Keio University Law School from 2004 to 2008.

 

Mr. Hosaka was elected Secretary & Treasurer of the HLSAJ in 2017.

 

Masahisa Ikeda (Treasurer)

 

Masahisa Ikeda ’93 is a member of the Executive Group and the Asia Regional Managing Partner at Shearman & Sterling. Mr. Ikeda received his A.B. from Harvard University in 1989, his LL.B. from the University of Tokyo in 1990 and his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1993. Mr. Ikeda has extensive experience advising corporations and government agencies on a wide variety of matters, including cross-border acquisitions, financings and disputes.

 

Mr. Ikeda is on the board of numerous non‐profit organizations including serving as a Director of the Tokyo Foundation and a Trustee of the International House of Japan. He is a member of the Harvard Law School New York Leadership Counsel as well as the Harvard Law School Leadership Council of Asia.

 

Mr. Ikeda was elected Treasurer of the HLSAJ in 2016.

Kazuhiro Yanagida (Secretary)

Kazuhiro Yanagida ’03 is the Representative Partner at Yanagida & Partners.  Mr. Yanagida received his LL.B. from Meiji University in 1996, his LL.M. from Waseda University in 1999 and his LL.M. from Harvard Law School in 2003. His practice focuses on a broad range of corporate law issues, M&A matters, international commercial transactions and the resolution of international disputes. Mr. Yanagida is a member of the World Bank Insolvency and Creditor/Debtor Regimes Task Force and the Harvard Law School Leadership Council of Asia.

 

Mr. Yanagida was elected Secretary of the HLSAJ in 2017.

 

Past Officers

Elected in 1982 (year of foundation of HLSAJ)

President: Professor Kichiemon Ishikawa (University of Tokyo)
Secretary & Treasurer: Yasuharu Nagashima, Esq.

Elected in 1983

President: Chief Justice Takaaki Hattori (former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Japan)

Elected in 1993

President: Professor Hiroshi Kaneko (University of Tokyo)
Secretary & Treasurer: Kazuo Ohtake, Esq.

Elected in 1999

President: Professor Takao Yamada (Yokohama National University)
Vice Presidents*: Yukio Yanagida, Esq. and Hiroshi Nakane, Esq.
* The position of Vice President was newly created in 1999.

Elected in 2005

President: Professor Kazuo Sugeno (University of Tokyo)

Elected in 2008

Vice President: Takeo Kosugi, Esq. (filling the vacancy that arose as a result of the death of Hiroshi Nakane, Esq. in 2007)

Elected in 2014

President: Professor Minoru Nakazato (University of Tokyo)

Elected in 2016

Treasurer*: Masahisa Ikeda, Esq.
* The position of Treasurer was newly created in 2016 as a result of the amendment of the constitution of the HLSAJ.

Elected in 2017

Vice President: Kazuo Ohtake, Esq. (filling the vacancy that arose as a result of the retirement of Yukio Yanagida, Esq. in 2017)
Secretary & Treasurer: Masaki Hosaka, Esq.
Secretary: Kazuhiro Yanagida, Esq.

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