Masuo Okumura, head of the Security Bureau at the National Police Agency, will become the new chief the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department on Monday.

Okumura will replace departing Superintendent General Shigeaki Ishikawa, the National Public Safety Commission said Friday.

The Cabinet approved the personnel change Friday, after approval by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and the Tokyo Metropolitan Public Safety Commission.

Okumura, 56, joined the National Police Agency in 1971 and was later transferred to the MPD.

At the MPD, he became chief of the Public Security Bureau, chief of the Personnel and Training Bureau, and later deputy superintendent general.