Takakazu Kuriyama (Japanese: 栗山尚一; died 1 April 2015) was a Japanese politician who served as ambassador to Malaysia and the United States.
Kuriyama was born in Tokyo.[1] His father, Kuriyama Shigeru, was a diplomat and judge in the Supreme Court of Japan.
He attended the University of Tokyo.[1]
In 1954, Kuriyama joined the Foreign Ministry.[1] He held the position of Director General of the North American Affairs Bureau,[1] and was appointed Vice Minister in May 1989.[2]
He was involved in the negotiations that led to the 1971 Okinawa Reversion Agreement, which returned the Okinawa Prefecture to Japan from the United States.[1] The next year, he helped draft a statement on normalising diplomacy with China.[1]
He served as ambassador to Malaysia during the mid-1980s,[3] and became ambassador to the United States in 1992.[1] He left the position in 1995.
His wife, Masako, was the daughter of a Japanese Supreme Court judge.[4]
He died on 1 April 2015 in a Tokyo hospital, after suffering from pneumonia.[1]