Jason Hyland

Jason P. Hyland is an American diplomat who is currently serving as the acting U.S. Ambassador to Japan. Hyland served as the Deputy Chief of Mission of the United States Embassy in Tokyo, Japan. He served as deputy to Ambassador Caroline Kennedy and assumed the position of Charge d'Affaires upon her departure from post on January 18, 2017. As Deputy Chief of Mission, Hyland was involved in the organization of President Barack Obama's May 2016 historic visit to Hiroshima and attended the ceremony. He wrote about his impressions of the event in his blog in the U.S. Embassy's American View online magazine. He has previously served as Deputy Chief of Mission of United States Embassy Canberra, Australia, and United States Embassy Baku, Azerbaijan, as Director of the Office of South Central European Affairs, and as Special Assistant for East Asian and Pacific Affairs in the U.S. Department of State. He arrived in Tokyo on June 30, 2014, to assume his duties as Deputy Chief of Mission, following his assignment as Foreign Policy Advisor at Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa. He has lived and worked in Asia for a total of 17 years.

Hyland was born in New York and raised in New York and California. His late mother, Elizabeth Ann "Betty" Hyland, was an author. He obtained his A.B in History from the University of California, Berkeley, and also studied at the National War College (Master of Science in National Security Strategy), The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy), and the Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies. He was also Visiting Foreign Scholar at the University of Tokyo, 1994-1995. He is fluent in Japanese, and proficient in Ukrainian and other languages. Hyland is the recipient of numerous U.S. Department of State awards, including the Superior Honor Award, Meritorious Honor Award and Sinclaire Language Award.