Toshiyuki Takano (高野 紀元, Takano Toshiyuki, born in 1944) is a Japanese Ambassador to Germany,^[1] previously to South Korea (2002–2005)^[2] and Singapore (2001).^[3] In February 2005 he sparked a controversy in South Korea when he stated that the Liancourt Rocks in the Sea of Japan, currently under South Korean administration, "historically and legally" belong to Japan.^[4]