is a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

jurist who served as the 20th

Chief Justice of Japan The is the chief judge of the Supreme Court of Japan and is the head of the judicial branch of the Japanese government. The Chief Justice is ceremonially appointed by the Emperor of Japan The emperor of Japan is the hereditary monarch a ...

from 2022 to 2024, having previously served as an Associate Justice on the

Supreme Court of Japan The , located in Hayabusachō, Chiyoda, Tokyo, is the highest court in Japan. It has ultimate judicial authority to interpret the Japanese constitution and decide questions of national law. It has the power of judicial review, which allows it ...

from 2017 to 2022.

Education and career

Tokura was born on August 11, 1954, in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. He attended

Hitotsubashi University , formerly known as , is a national university, national research university in Tokyo, Japan. Often regarded as Japan’s foremost institution for the study of the social sciences, particularly commerce, economics, law, political science, sociolog ...

and graduated with a degree in Law in 1980. Tokura spent over 35 years serving on lower courts before his appointment to the Supreme Court in 2017. From 1982 to 1992, Tokura served on the district courts of

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

Sapporo is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in Hokkaido, Japan. Located in the southwest of Hokkaido, it lies within the alluvial fan of the Toyohira River, a tributary of the Ishikari River. Sapporo is the capital ...

, and

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, as part of the departments of Civil Affairs and Personal Affairs. In 1992, he was appointed as a judge in the Tokyo District Court. He kept this job until 1998, despite also serving as a professor since 1994. In 1998 he was moved to the Hiroshima district court, and was appointed the Presiding judge in 1999. From 2000 to 2008 he served as Counselor of various bureaus in the Supreme Court. In 2008, he became presiding Judge of the Tokyo District Court. In 2013, he was moved to the Tokyo High Court (a court of appeals). He later became the president of this Court in 2016. On June 23 2022, Tokura was attested by Emperor Naruhito and took office as the 20th

Supreme Court

On March 14, 2017, Tokura was appointed to the Supreme Court of Japan. The Chief Justice was formally appointed by the

Emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

(at that time,

Akihito Akihito (born 23 December 1933) is a member of the Imperial House of Japan who reigned as the 125th emperor of Japan from 1989 until 2019 Japanese imperial transition, his abdication in 2019. The era of his rule was named the Heisei era, Hei ...

) but as the Emperor may not reject the Cabinet's nominee, in practice Tokura was appointed by

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Shinzo Abe Shinzo Abe (21 September 1954 – 8 July 2022) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), LDP) from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2020. ...

. Tokura's term ended on August 10, 2024 (one day before he turns 70). This is because all members of the court have a mandatory retirement age of 70.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tokura, Saburo 1954 births Living people Japanese jurists Hitotsubashi University alumni Supreme Court of Japan justices Chief justices of Japan