From 1997 to 2000, he served as Deputy Director-General in the Multilateral Cooperation Department of the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

Previously, he worked at the Secretariat of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) (1988–1991) and the World Health Organization (1993–1997).

He was Deputy Director of the Press Division and later the Ministry's Spokesman on climate change issues for many years.

In the following year, he pursued his studies at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he obtained a Bachelor and a Master of Arts in economics.

He also published many articles on trade, the environment and sustainable development in Japanese journals and newspapers.