Shinichi Kitaoka is a professor of political science at Tokyo University and the former Japanese ambassador to the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

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Kitaoka received his Ph.D. from the University of Tokyo in 1976 and took a lecturership at Rikkyo University

Rikkyo University

, also known as Saint Paul's University, is a private university, based on Christian precepts, in Ikebukuro, Tokyo. There is a suburban campus in Niiza in nearby Saitama.It is known for its liberal climate symbolized by the motto -History:...

; he became a full professor there in 1985. In 1997, he moved to his current position at the University of Tokyo. He has served on several government advisory panels; in 2004, he was appointed as Japan's ambassador and deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, a position he held until 2006 when he returned to academia. He was also the Japanese chair of the Japan-China Joint History Research Committee that investigated the Nanking Massacre

Nanking Massacre

The Nanking Massacre or Nanjing Massacre, also known as the Rape of Nanking, was a mass murder, genocide and war rape that occurred during the six-week period following the Japanese capture of the city of Nanjing , the former capital of the Republic of China, on December 13, 1937 during the Second...

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External links

• Kitaoka's U. Tokyo web page, retrieved August 18, 2008.