Masahiko Metoki – Director General, UPU International Bureau
Masahiko Metoki was elected Director General of the UPU International Bureau at the 27th Universal Postal Congress in Abidjan in 2021, and was re-elected by acclamation at the 28th Congress in Dubai in 2025 for a second four-year term beginning on 1 January 2026. As Director General, he leads the organization’s work as the primary forum for cooperation between governments, postal operators and wider stakeholders across the global postal sector.
Mr Metoki has more than four decades’ experience in postal administration, international affairs and public service. Before joining the UPU, he held senior positions at Japan Post and in the Government of Japan, including Director of the Office for the Promotion of Privatization of Postal Services within the Cabinet Secretariat, and Senior Vice-President of International Affairs at Japan Post. He has also worked with Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and at the Embassy of Japan in Thailand.
A long-standing contributor to the work of the UPU, Mr Metoki represented Japan as Chair of the Postal Operations Council from 2012 to 2021. He also chaired that Council's Committee 5, the Postal Financial Services Group, and the 22nd Congress committee on postal financial services. He led the first-ever revision of the UPU Convention between Congresses, to permit the international postal transport of equipment containing lithium batteries.
Mr Metoki holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in social psychology from the University of Tokyo. In 1995, he was awarded the Most Noble Order of the Crown of Thailand, 3rd Class. He is a co-author of the academic paper Postal Savings for National Development (2008).
