he was born on 3 march 1950 in japan. he graduated from the university of tokyo in the field of economics in 1972, and has an mba from case western reserve university, cleveland, ohio (1979). in 1973 he began his career with the ministry of economy, trade and industry of japan (meti). in 1989 he joined the organisation for economic co-operation and development (oecd) as the deputy-director for science, technology and industry, and served in 1991-1995 as the director for science, technology and industry.