The Foreign Ministry's entire staff will relocate by Jan. 18 to temporary quarters in Tokyo's Minato Ward for 2 1/2 years while the ministry's Kasumigaseki district offices undergo a 6 billion yen seismic upgrade, ministry officials said.
The full-scale relocation of the ministry's functions to the Shiba-Koen district will begin later this week, they said.
The ministry will be temporarily based in two buildings, which are about 2.3 km from the current offices in Chiyoda Ward.