NAGOYA, Japan, May 8 /PRNewswire/ --

Dr. Hidenari Tanaka, president and CEO of Menicon Co., Ltd. and president of the Japan Contact Lens Association, was appointed as Singapore's Honorary Consul-General in Nagoya, Japan, by the government of the Republic of Singapore. The appointment was effective April 20, 2009. The Singapore Consulate-General will be located at Menicon's corporate headquarters in Nagoya.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090508/PR34572)

Dr. Tanaka, an ophthalmologist by training, will serve as Honorary Consul-General to represent the interest of the country of Singapore and its people in central Japan.

In addition, Dr. Tanaka's office will be handling consular matters. Dr. Tanaka and the Menicon Co., Ltd. are proud of this appointment, given that the Nagoya region is Japan's most important area after the areas of Tokyo and Osaka where Singapore is represented by their own offices of Embassy and General Consulate respectively.

I am very gratified to have been selected for this post, Dr. Tanaka said. I look forward to doing my utmost to strengthen social, cultural and commercial ties between Japan and Singapore.

Singapore is the site of Menicon's new state-of-the-art research and manufacturing facility, which will produce Menicon's new daily disposable contact lenses, scheduled to be launched in a few years.

About Menicon:

Menicon Co., Ltd. (www.menicon.com), founded by Kyoichi Tanaka in 1951, is Japan's first and largest contact lens manufacturer, and is represented in more than 30 countries. Menicon is dedicated to advancing all areas of soft and GP contact lens-related businesses, including material development, lens design, and manufacturing of contact lenses and care solutions. Menicon is a world leader in the development of hyper-Dk GP (Menicon Z) and soft contact lenses (Menicon PremiO).

Contact: Jonathan J. Jacobson Global Strategy Operation Menicon Co., Ltd. Phone: +1-617-232-3617 Fax: +1-617-232-3687 E-mail: jonathan_jacobson@menicon.com

Jonathan J. Jacobson, Global Strategy Operation of Menicon Co., Ltd., +1-617-232-3617, or fax, +1-617-232-3687, jonathan_jacobson@menicon.com; Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090508/PR34572