Departures of note

Nobuo Inaba was a Japanese financial executive who led NHK, Japan's national public broadcaster, as its president and chairman. Born in Shizuoka Prefecture on November 1, 1950, he graduated from the economics department of the University of Tokyo in 1974 and joined the Bank of Japan the same year. Over more than three decades at the central bank he rose through the ranks, serving as director of the examination bureau and the systems and information bureau and eventually as a director. In May 2008 he moved to Ricoh, first as special adviser and later as executive, chairman of the board, and senior fellow of the Ricoh Institute of Sustainability and Business. In January 2023 Inaba became chairman of NHK, overseeing the public broadcaster during a period of digital transition and governance reform. In May 2025 he disclosed that he had early-stage lung cancer, discovered during a health checkup the previous April, and continued his duties while undergoing treatment. His three-year term ended on January 24, 2026, just after he delivered his farewell remarks at a regular press conference. He died of aspiration pneumonia on October 6, 2026, at a hospital in Tokyo, at the age of 75.