Ryōzō Katō

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Ryōzō Katō (加藤 良三) was born on September 13, 1941, in Yurihonjō, Japan. He is a Japanese lawyer and diplomat who served as Japan's ambassador to the United States from 2001 to 2008. He then served as Commissioner of Nippon Professional Baseball from 2008 to 2013. Katō studied law at the University of Tokyo and Yale Law School. He worked for the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and had postings in Australia, Egypt, and the United States. In Tokyo, he held senior positions such as Director-General of the Asian Affairs Bureau (1995–1997) and Deputy-General of the Foreign Policy Bureau (1997–1999); he was Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1999 to 2001 before becoming ambassador to the United States. In the United States, he served earlier as Third Secretary (1967–1969), Minister (1987–1990), and Consul-General in San Francisco (1992–1994). He resigned as baseball commissioner in 2013 after it was found that the baseballs used in that season were secretly altered (juiced).