Iijima Akimi (飯島彰己), former president and current adviser of Mitsui & Co., Ltd., will become the new commissioner of Nippon Professional Baseball, it was announced on the 16th. He will be approved at a meeting of the owners of Nippon Professional Baseball's 12 teams and become the 16th commissioner.
Iijima Akimi (飯島彰己), former president of Mitsui & Co., Ltd., has formally been selected as the new commissioner of Nippon Professional Baseball. He will be approved at a meeting of the owners of Nippon Professional Baseball's 12 teams held on the 16th and become the 16th commissioner. Second-term commissioner Sakakibara Sadayuki (榊原定征) will leave office at the end of November, and the commissionership will change from Sakakibara Sadayuki (榊原定征) to Iijima Akimi (飯島彰己).
Iijima Akimi (飯島彰己) was born in 1950 and is from Kanagawa Prefecture. After graduating from the Faculty of Business Administration at Yokohama National University, he joined Mitsui & Co., Ltd. in 1974. He worked in the resources and steel raw materials and metal resources divisions, became an executive officer in 2006 and was appointed president and representative director in 2009. He advanced investment in the resources and energy sectors, served as chairman and representative director from 2015, and has been an adviser since 2021.
The commissioner from the business community, following the 14th commissioner Saito Atsushi (斉藤惇), will now be the third in succession. Iijima Akimi (飯島彰己) has since also served as an adviser to the Bank of Japan and as an outside director of companies including SoftBank Group and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company.
This appointment is attracting attention as a move that could signal changes in baseball's policy direction and organizational management. Subsequent reports may cover developments after Iijima Akimi (飯島彰己) takes office and his reform agenda.