April 6, 2004

Joe Coleman named chief of bureau in Tokyo; Kazuo Abiko promoted to general manager

NEW YORK -- Joseph Coleman, correspondent for The Associated Press in Tokyo, has been promoted to chief of bureau there. Kazuo Abiko, who had been assistant chief of bureau, has been promoted to general manager, a new position in charge of expanding AP's commercial and sales opportunities in Japan.

The announcements were made jointly by Ian Ritchie, vice president-Global Business and managing director of AP International, and International Editor Deborah Seward. Ritchie is in charge of AP International, the London-based division charged with expanding content development and revenue opportunities outside the United States. Seward is based at AP's headquarters in New York and directs international news operations around the globe.

Coleman will be in charge of AP's news operations in Japan and will report to Geoff Spencer, AP's Asia editor based in Bangkok, Thailand. Abiko will report to Ritchie. The division of responsibilities is part of AP's strategic goal of focusing its top journalists on news and its best business talent on commercial operations.

Coleman joined the AP in 1990 in Kansas City, moving to the International Desk in 1993. He transferred to Tokyo in 1995, serving six years before spending a year on a journalism fellowship at the University of Michigan. He was named correspondent in Paris in 2002 and returned to Tokyo last year.

Abiko joined the AP in 1978 as photo editor and became a newsman in 1981. He moved to bureau administration in 1984 and was promoted to assistant chief of bureau in 1985.