Announcement of New Appointments to the Board of Directors


At the Regular General Meeting of Members held on March 24, 2024, the appointment of two new directors was approved.

New Director

Rika Sueyoshi, Representative Director, Ethical Association (General Incorporated Association)

A graduate of the Faculty of Policy Management at Keio University, she traveled the world as a “Mystery Hunter” on the TBS program Sekai Fushigi Hakken! (Discovery of the World’s Mysteries). In order to realize a sustainable society where ethical living can serve as a measure of happiness, she promotes ethical consumption throughout Japan. She contributed to the junior high school first-year Japanese textbook (Kyokasho Publishing) adopted from 2021. Her works include Inoru Kodomo-tachi (Ohta Publishing) and Hajimete no Ethical (Yamakawa Shuppansha). She also wrote the picture book Junbi wa Iikai?—Na mo naki kozaru to ethical na boken (Yamakawa Shuppansha) and Ethical Kakumei—Atarashii shiawase no monosashi wo tazusaete (Yamakawa Shuppansha). Past and present roles include: Member of the Consumer Affairs Agency’s “Ethical Consumption” Research Study Group (May 2015–March 2017); Member of the Tokyo Metropolitan Council on Consumer Affairs Measures; Director of the Japan Ethical Promotion Council (General Incorporated Association); Director of the Japan Sustainable Label Association (General Incorporated Association); Advisor to the Fair Trade Student Network (FTSN) Kanto Chapter; Advisor to Fairtrade Label Japan, a certified NPO; Councilor of the SOMPO Environment Foundation; ESG Advisory Board Member for Kao Corporation; Nitobe Future Advisor at Nitobe Bunka Gakuen; People Tree Ambassador; Member of the Central Environment Council’s Sound Material-Cycle Society Committee (from April 2021); Member of the Subcommittee on Resource Circulation Economy under the Industrial Structure Council’s Industrial Science and Technology and Environment Committee (from September 2023); Member of the Subcommittee on Building Decarbonized Resource Circulation Systems for Downstream Industries under the Central Environment Council (from September 2023); Member of the Consumer Education Promotion Council (from October 2023); Ethical Consumption Promotion Advisor for Kamakura City, among others.

New Director

Masamichi Hashiguchi, Executive Director, Carbon Recycling Fund (General Incorporated Association); Executive Director, Carbon Frontier Organization (General Incorporated Foundation)

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After completing a master’s program in geophysics at the University of Tokyo in 1985, he joined the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI). He has held various positions, including Deputy Director of the Petroleum Distribution Division at the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, Deputy Director of the Mining Division at the Location and Environmental Protection Bureau, Deputy Director of the Printing Business Division at the Consumer and Living Industry Bureau, Deputy Director of the Commercial Policy Division at the Industrial Policy Bureau, Deputy Director-General and Executive Officer of the Kagawa Prefectural Commercial and Labor Department, Director of the Environmentally Harmonious Industry Promotion Office (Eco-Town Office) at the Industrial Science and Technology and Environment Bureau, Head of the European Office of the Japan Business Machine and Information System Industries Association at JETRO Düsseldorf, Director of the R&D Promotion Department at the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), Director of the Coal Division at the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, and Vice Governor of Akita Prefecture, before becoming Executive Director of the Carbon Frontier Organization. In August 2019, he established the Carbon Recycling Fund (CRF), a General Incorporated Association that treats CO2 as a resource and aims for a carbon circulation society. He concurrently serves as Executive Director of CRF.

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