Akira Imamura joined the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1984. Among his foreign postings, he has served in Moscow three times, but also in Washington, D.C., Canberra, London and Ottawa.
He held the position of Director of the Central and Southeast Europe Division of the Japanese MFA from 2003 to 2006, when he was responsible for Japan’s relations with the Western Balkan countries and also had an opportunity to visit Belgrade. He was appointed Japanese Consul-General in the Russian city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk in 2015. Prior to arriving in Serbia, Ambassador Imamura served as Ambassador of Japan to Georgia, until May 2023.
A fluent speaker of both English and Russian, he is accompanied on his posting in Belgrade by his wife, Miyuki. His interests include history and art and he has also translated Solomon Volkov’s book A History of 20th Century Russian Culture (2019).
