Metro Manila, Philippines – Japan’s new ambassador-designate to the Philippines, Katsuro Kitagawa, has arrived in the country, at a time when Manila and Tokyo deepen cooperation in defense, maritime security, and trade.
“Mabuhay! I am KITAGAWA Katsuro, and I have finally arrived in the Philippines as Ambassador-designate of Japan,” Kitagawa said on X (Formerly Twitter) on Friday, Sept. 18.
“As I begin my journey, I am excited to meet with all our Filipino friends and continue the work we’ve been doing to strengthen 🇯🇵🤝🇵🇭 relations. Maraming salamat po!” he added.
Kitagawa, 58, is a career diplomat with more than three decades in Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and extensive experience in security policy, nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation, European affairs and relations with South Korea.
Japan appointed Kitagawa ambassador to the Philippines effective Aug. 12, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.
He succeeds Kazuya Endo, who ended his two-and-a-half-year stint at the end of August.
Kitagawa’s earlier assignments included work on global environmental issues before serving at the Japanese Embassy in France
He was assigned to South Korea as minister at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, where he served as the embassy’s political minister during a period of strained relations between the two countries. He was among the Japanese diplomats summoned by South Korean authorities in 2018 over Tokyo’s territorial claims to the Dokdo islets, which Japan calls Takeshima.
He later returned to France as a minister at the Japanese embassy before taking senior positions at the foreign ministry in Tokyo.
Kitagawa arrived in Manila during a significant expansion of Japan-Philippines relations.
Marcos and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi elevated bilateral relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership during the president’s state visit to Japan in May, the first of such partnerships for the country.
The two sides have expanded defense cooperation under their Reciprocal Access Agreement, which entered into force in September 2025 and allows their armed forces to deploy more easily to each other’s territory for joint exercises and other cooperative activities.
Both are marking the 70th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations this year.
Kitagawa was already involved in bilateral engagement before arriving in Manila. On August 25, he joined Philippine Ambassador to Japan Mylene Garcia-Albano and Philippine lawmakers in a meeting with leaders of the Japan-Philippines Parliamentary Friendship League in Tokyo.
Kitagawa will formally take up his role after presenting his credentials to Marcos.
