Tokyo Legat Turns 50

Legal Tokyo: Yesterday and Today
A Partnership that's been Going Strong for 50 Years...and Counting

11/19/04

Think FBI offices in foreign countries are a new thing, a product of globalization?

Think again. We've had special agents working in U.S. embassies across the globe for decades—since 1940, to be exact.

Why? Because FBI agents work face-to-face with counterparts there to pursue leads, solve crimes, bring home fugitives, and prevent crime and terrorism from ever reaching our shores. And it's a two-way street: we help other nations solve cases with U.S. connections.

One of the longest running of these offices is our Tokyo Legal Attache, or Legat. In fact, on Friday, November 19, it turns 50 years old.

And what's been accomplished in a half century? Plenty, for both nations. Here's a thumbnail history of the partnership:

1954: Special Agent Harold L. Child, Jr., (top left in picture) opened the original office. Back then it covered not only Japan and Taiwan as it does today, but also Hong Kong, the Philippines, Singapore, and South Korea.

1966: Japan's first police executive graduated from the FBI National Academy. Over 100 of his colleagues have since followed, and we’ve trained others in everything from counterterrorism to hostage rescue. In turn, for the past decade, Japanese officers have trained FBI agents through the Mansfield Fellowship Program.

1980: Our two nations signed an extradition treaty, allowing U.S. fugitives hiding in Japan (both criminals and terrorists) to be returned to our country—and vice versa.

Mid '80s: A U.S./Japanese Working Group was created to tackle the rising tide of international organized crime linked to both of our countries.

1988: A powerful car bomb exploded at the USO Club in Naples, Italy, killing 4 Italians and one American. Assisted by our Japanese partners, we tracked the bomb to a member of the Japanese Red Army terrorist group.

1995: Aum Supreme Truth—a Japanese terrorist group—released sarin gas into the Tokyo subway system. Twelve were killed and 5,000 sickened. We investigated the group's ties in the U.S. Our colleagues ultimately arrested the AST leader and dozens of associates.

1998: Simultaneous terrorist attacks on U.S. embassies in East Africa kill hundreds. The cars that carried both bombs were made in Japan. Japanese investigators helped us trace the vehicles and explosives, helping to secure convictions of the terrorists.

2001: Following the attacks of 9/11, which killed 24 Japanese nationals, our two countries strengthened our investigative partnership in the war on terrorism.

2004: Special Agent Larry Futa (lower right in the photo) was appointed Tokyo Legat. Over the past year, his office has handled hundreds of complex cases and more than 2,000 leads for investigators back in the U.S.

Congratulations, Legat Tokyo! And many thanks to our partners in Japan, Taiwan, and elsewhere around the globe.