Masayoshi Arai

Director General, Trade Policy Bureau
Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry

Mr. Arai Masayoshi serves as Director-General, Trade Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). Appointed to this key role in July 2024, Mr. Arai has overall responsibility for external economic policy at METI. Specifically, his responsibilities include trade, industrial, digital, energy, and Green Transformation (GX) policy areas.

Previously, Mr. Arai served as Director General for Trade Policy, taking the lead in strengthening economic ties with the Global South and improving relationships with China. Working alongside the U.S. and EU, he was also closely involved with efforts to promote strategies designed to enhance supply chain resilience.

After joining METI in 1991, Mr. Arai held posts in the trade policy area and was closely involved with Japan-U.S. trade negotiations in key industrial sectors such as semiconductors. In 1993, he was assigned to address Japan-U.S. trade imbalance issues while working for the Research Institute of METI. From 1997 to 1999 during the Asian economic crisis, Mr. Arai was engaged in efforts to strengthen economic cooperation between Japan and other Asian countries.

From 1999, Mr. Arai supported Japan’s efforts to acquire upstream interests in oil and gas fields in the Middle East while working for the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy. From 2001, he guided deregulation measures in Japan’s communications and electricity sectors. He was also closely involved with negotiations for Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) with other Asian nations, the development of M&A rules for Japanese companies, as well as efforts to enhance the competitiveness of Japanese manufacturers.

From 2008, Mr. Arai was engaged in key domestic policy initiatives including developing economic countermeasures after the global financial crisis.

For three years from 2009, Mr. Arai served in METI’s liaison office in Washington, D.C., where he drove several important international initiatives, including Japan’s accession to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement. He also contributed to efforts to strengthen Japan-U.S. energy cooperation in such fields as LNG and nuclear energy as well as build cooperation for strategies for China and the Middle East.

From 2012, as the Director of the division in charge of the electronics industry, Mr. Arai led government efforts to strengthen the international competitiveness of Japanese companies.

From 2016 to 2021, Mr. Arai served as Director and Director-General for Policy Planning and Coordination at METI. He set the strategic direction required for policy planning at METI. In this role, Mr. Arai was responsible for the oversight and coordination of a wide range of forward-looking policy agendas and measures.

Mr. Arai was appointed as Director-General of the Commerce and Information Policy Bureau at METI in July 2021. As head of the bureau, he was responsible for the oversight of ministry policy related to the digital business sector, including cyber security and the online creative content.

He served as Executive Assistant to Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in October 2021. As a member of the Prime Minister’s office, Mr. Arai supported policy planning and coordination, and helped set the strategic direction at the government. In this role, he was responsible for the oversight of a wide range of policy agendas.

Mr. Arai graduated from Waseda University’s School of Political Science and Economics, and earned his MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

He was born in Kanagawa Prefecture on July 17, 1967.