Kōichi Itō, a former ambassador to Greece, will head the Taipei office of the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association, the country's de facto embassy in Taiwan, the Sankei Shimbun reported, as the two sides negotiate a broad trade framework.
Itō, 67, takes over from Kazuyuki Katayama, who is equivalent in rank to an ambassador. Katayama leaves in late November and Itō is due to arrive in early December, according to multiple Japanese and Taiwanese officials cited by the newspaper.
The post is a quiet one, but it sits at the center of steadily deepening practical ties between Tokyo and Taipei. The two exchange bodies are negotiating a comprehensive trade framework covering strategic fields such as artificial intelligence and semiconductors, along with economic security.
The Sankei Shimbun reported that the framework could be signed at a regular trade and economic meeting in December. It would resemble the enhanced trade partnership agreement Britain and Taiwan signed in 2023.
Business and travel ties grow
Economic links have expanded quickly. TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker, began mass production at its first Japanese plant, the Kumamoto No. 1 factory in Kikuyō, Kumamoto Prefecture, in 2024, after Katayama took up the post. Construction on a second Kumamoto plant started in 2025.
Travel has followed. The two sides recorded more than 8.21 million mutual visits in 2025, a record high.
A China hand with Taipei experience
Itō graduated from the University of Tokyo's law faculty and joined the Foreign Ministry's Chinese-language training track, known inside the ministry as the China School. He served as head of the general affairs department at the association's Taipei office, then called the Interchange Association, from 2005 to 2008.
He later headed the regional policy division of the ministry's Asia and Oceania Affairs Bureau and served as consul general in Guangzhou. He was ambassador to Greece from January 2024 until October this year.