Birth Year: 1951 in Saga

Sotaro, or Taro handles almost all kind of shipping matters such as collision, salvage, oil pollution, personal injury, charter party dispute, cargo claim defense, ship sales, shipbuilding contract, and excels especially in dry matters (C/P and B/L disputes). He has frequented as an expert witness in arbitrations in London and Hong Kong on Japanese shipping law issues and wrote numerous legal opinion letters. He represents major Japanese hull underwriters, international P&I Clubs, Japanese shipping companies including such a big name as Mitsui OSK Lines as well as NVOCCs. Because of his accumulated expertise as a shipping lawyer for more than 35 years, he is well known among international shipping lawyers in England, USA, China(including Hong Kong), Singapore, Australia and the rest of the world.

He is an arbitrator of the Japan Shipping Exchange.

He used to play basketball in high school, but now, he prefers playing golf (HDCP 16) to basketball. He also used to be a scuba diver, having enjoyed more than 100 dives in various destinations in the world.