#  Director Christina Davis's statement on the passing of Prof. Takatoshi Ito 

 



*September 24, 2025*

Dear Colleagues,

I am deeply saddened to learn of Professor Takatoshi Ito’s passing on September 20, 2025, at the age of seventy-four. He has spoken many times in the Program on US-Japan Relations’ seminar series, and served as the Program on US-Japan Relations’ Distinguished Visitor in 2006–2007. He received his PhD in economics from Harvard, and has taught in the Department of Economics and at the Harvard Kennedy School as a visiting professor. He has taught for many years at the University of Tokyo and Hitotsubashi University, and most recently, in the School of Public and International Affairs at Columbia University.

Professor Ito’s many influential books include *The Japanese Economy* (MIT, 1992; Second edition, in 2020, with Takeo Hoshi), *The Political Economy of the Japanese Monetary Policy* (MIT, 1997), and *Financial Policy and Central Banking in Japan* (MIT, 2000). He has published over 150 journal articles and book chapters, including those in *Econometrica, American Economic Review,* and *Journal of Monetary Economics*. In his distinguished public service career, he served as senior advisor of the Research Department in the International Monetary Fund (1994–1997); deputy vice minister for international affairs at Japan’s Ministry of Finance (1999–2001); and member of the Prime Minister’s Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy (2006–2008).

It was my privilege to moderate the discussion of his most recent seminar in spring 2023, on [“Challenges Facing the Japanese Economy: Demography, Debts, Deglobalization, and Decarbonization.”](https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__youtu.be_ycXsrScq5tI-3Fsi-3DqmI2T33nfelDa1kB&d=DwMFaQ&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=Ny0RMFMHiGAmoTvUqmljsSmArTODKH_z6WaulCfrOBk&m=I0lH9sXMDGREJf0f48u7tpnhXF6NQjWVfhidqC8or9L3m6PnpulzzOF68z6D_JJP&s=WxAVZTtT1OIahBHXY4dh9_Cvyp4ViSGphdU20y9yLXM&e=) His talks were full of keen insights and fascinating data, and I always learned a tremendous amount from our conversations. Together with all of our program affiliates and staff, I express my deepest condolences to his family.

Sincerely,

**Christina L. Davis**   
Director