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Yoshiaki Watanabe (Chairman)
Yoshiaki Watanabe was elected Chairman of the Board of the Tokyo Grain Exchange at the Annual General Meeting of Members on May 25, 2007.
Directly preceding his position as chairman at the Exchange from April 2004 to September 2006, Mr. Watanabe was the Advisor to the then Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi, who appointed him as the president of the preparatory office of Postal. (He was responsible for implementing measures on the privatization of Japan Postal Services.)
Mr. Watanabe spent thirty-six years working for the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries where he was Vice-Minister (2002-2004) after being positioned Director-General of the Fisheries Agency (2001), Director-General of Agricultural Structure Improvement (1998-2000), Director-General of the Water Quality Bureau of the Environmental Agency (1996-1998).
His experience with agricultural futures was gained in the midst of the energy crises (oil shocks) of the 1970’s where he was responsible in the stabilization of grain prices and sufficient stock of feed formula. At the time he would analyze CBOT’s futures prices; ocean freight rates and foreign currency rates to see if the feed millers (manufacturers) in Japan were receiving acceptable prices for the formula which contained corn, milo, soybean meal and fish meal.
Along with his position as the chairman of the Exchange, Mr. Watanabe takes keen interest in environmental and rural areas issues as he is currently on the Board of Trustees of the International Center for Environmental Management of Enclosed Coastal Seas; advisor to NPO Furusato TV; director of the Foundation for Flowering & Greening; Chair of the Nagano prefecture North Alps Brand designation committee; and advisor of the promotion of the regional agricultural improvement of the National Chamber of Agriculture. Also, he will be guest professor of Hokkaido University Graduate School from June 1.
During his spare time, Mr. Watanabe actively pursues hiking, swimming, golf, studying Japanese classical literature (medieval and modern age) and rakugo, traditional Japanese story telling.
Yoshiaki Watanabe was born in October 1945 and is married with one son.
Takeshi Kubota (President)
In the position of the Land Bureau Director-General of the National Land Agency from 1996, he successfully tackled long term land prices through land possession taxation and the reexamination of land usage.
As the Director-General of the Forest Policy Planning Department he assisted in designing the draft for the 1995 enacted "Green Fund Raising Law" which made public interest in acting against the tropical deforestation and desertification of accelerating world-wide forest decline into practical action.
While Director of the Administration Division of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister's Secretariat from 1991, Kubota was the Japanese representative in negotiations with the U.S.A., Soviet Union, China, South Korea and Poland to draft a new agreement regarding fishing in the open waters of the Baring Sea.
He has graduated with a law major from the University of Tokyo in 1967.
He enjoys golf, light jogging and small plot vegetable gardening during his free time.
. During his term as President of the Exchange, he hopes to develop new futures contracts and firmly establish respectability for the futures industry.
Shoji Yamano (Senior Executive Vice President)
Mr. Shoji Yamano was elected as the Senior Executive Vice President of the Tokyo Grain Exchange at the Annual General Meeting of Members on May 28, 2008. From April 2008, he was an advisor for the Exchange and directly preceding this position, as the standing director of the Livestock Industry’s Environmental Improvement Organization from October 2006 he established and guided environmental improvement measures of livestock waste processing facilities.
In August 2006 he retired from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries after 32 years of service of which he partook a variety positions. When the director of Japan Green Resources Agency, he was responsible for forestation for the preservation of ecology through water shed management. As the director-general of the Kanto Regional Agricultural Administration, he assisted in the promotion of Japanese food as part of a healthy lifestyle. Acting as councilor (deputy director-Agricultural Production Bureau) Minister’s Secretariat, Mr. Yamano opened dialog with China on trade of farm goods. Other positions held were director of the Legal Affairs Division, Minister’s Secretariat and director of the Administration Division, Agricultural Bureau.
He graduated with an economics major at the Kyoto University. During his free time he is a jogging enthusiast and has completed a number of marathons. Another favorite pastime he enjoys is mountain climbing with his wife.
