Mr. Yoichi Hasegawa was born on 23.05.1947 in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. He graduated from the Faculty of Business and Commerce at Keio University in March 1970.

In April 1970 he began work in the Accounting Department of Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd (K-Line).

He is a former Senior Managing Executive Officer of “K” Line and current President and CEO of Taiyo Nippon Kisen Co., Ltd. (TNKC) which is one of “K” Line’s consolidated ship management companies.

TNKC started manning Bulgarian ship officers in 1997 and established Stargate Maritime Ltd. as a manning company in Bulgaria in 2004. Nearly 400 Bulgarian officers, most of them (90%) Naval Academy graduates currently serve aboard about 30 TNKC ship management vessels. “K” Line and TNKC have supported the development and modernization the Naval Academy facilities since 2005, and a class room supported by “K” Line and TNKC is named “K-Line Class Room”. In addition, the renovation work of a large lecture room supported by “K” Line and TNKC was completed in 2012.

Mr. Yoichi Hasegava, President of Taiyo Nippon Kisen Co., Ltd. received the Doctor Honoris Causa honorary title of Nikola Y. Vaptsarov Naval Academy on 12.03.2013.