As a leading member of the firm’s team in Tokyo, Yoichiro Sato provides strategic counsel at the highest levels of the private sector with his extensive experience in strategic communications, public affairs and multi-stakeholder engagement. Yoichiro has advised Japanese clients including Mitsubishi UFJ Trust Banking, Kirin Holdings, the Nikkei Global Management Forum, as well as international firms and organizations including Ares Management and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Prior to joining Brunswick in 2018 as the firm’s first appointment in Tokyo, Yoichiro worked at Goldman Sachs, where he advised on geopolitical and regulatory developments as vice president of the Office of Government Affairs. Yoichiro started his career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan in 2005, where he had several key roles including: driving political affairs during a two-year posting in Islamabad, Pakistan; leading the negotiations for the economic partnership agreement between Japan and the EU; promoting public-private partnerships supporting Japanese corporates in overseas markets; and working on negotiations at the World Trade Organization (WTO). From 2013-2015, Yoichiro served Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the Office of the Prime Minister of Japan as his special assistant on foreign affairs issues.

Yoichiro has a MA in international affairs from the School of International Affairs, Columbia University, a BA in law from Waseda University and a BA in political science from the University of Tokyo. Yoichiro is an alumnus of the Japan-America Student Conference (JASC) and the Aspen Institute.