Michiharu Honda is a Managing Director and the head of Nardello & Co.’s Tokyo office. He has significant experience conducting a wide variety of due diligence, political risk, and intelligence-focused investigations relating to organized crime, fraud, and corruption for clients in Japan and overseas.

Prior to joining Nardello & Co., Michiharu worked for the Japanese government, serving as a Secretary for Policy and Legislative Affairs, for both the House of Representatives and House of Councillors of the National Diet of Japan. He began his investigative career at the Yomiuri Shimbun, one of Japan’s leading newspapers, where he worked for 16 years. This included postings as the paper’s Bureau Chief in Phnom Penh and Jakarta.

As a proponent for peace building and human rights issues, Michiharu served as a Senior Program Associate for the Program for Human Resource Development in Asia for Peace Building, which was implemented by the Hiroshima Peace Builders Center (HPC) and commissioned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Additionally, he was a member of the Japanese government delegation to Cyprus on behalf of another HPC program. Michiharu was also a Visiting Fellow at Human Rights Watch at their New York headquarters.

Michiharu is a member of Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) Reserve Unit and is trained to provide linguistic support for GSDF joint operations with the US Marines and US Army.

Michiharu received a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Vermont and a master’s degree in area studies on the subject of French colonial Lao history from Sophia University in Japan. He is fluent in Japanese and English.