KITAOKA Shinichi
President, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)Professor Emeritus, University of TokyoDr. Kitaoka is president of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and professor emeritus of the University of Tokyo and Rikkyo University. He studied at the University of Tokyo, specializing in modern Japanese politics and diplomacy (B.A. in 1971, Ph.D. in 1976). He taught at Rikkyo University (1976–97) and his alma mater (1997–2004, 2006–12), while serving as ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the United Nations (2004–06). He later became president of the International University of Japan (IUJ, 2012–15). He has been on the advisory panels for many prime ministers and foreign ministers. He was the acting chair of the Advisory Panel on Reconstruction of the Legal Basis for Security (2007–08, 2013–14), of the Advisory Panel on the History of the 20th Century and on Japan’ s Role and the World Order in the 21st Century (2015), and of the Advisory Panel on Security and Defense Capabilities (2018). He received the Imperial Medal with Purple Ribbon in 2011.
KOKUBUN Ryosei
Former President, National Defense Academy (NDA) of JapanKokubun served as president of the National Defense Academy (NDA) of Japan from 2012 to 2021 and has been professor emeritus at Keio University since 2019. He became an associate professor at Keio in 1985 and a professor in 1992, going on to serve as director of Keio’s Institute of East Asian Studies from 1999 to 2007 and dean of the university’s Faculty of Law and Politics from 2007 to 2011. He is also the former president of the Japan Association of International Relations and the Japan Association for Asian Studies. He was awarded the Asia-Pacific Prize by The Mainichi Shimbun in 1997, the Suntory Prize for Social Sciences and Humanities in 2004, and the Kashiyama Prize in 2017.
NAKANISHI Hiroshi
Professor, Kyoto UniversityNakanishi is a professor in the Law Department at Kyoto University. His major interests are historical development of international relations in the Asia-Pacific in the twentieth century, historical development of international relations theories, and Japanese foreign and security policy. His major publications include Kokusaiseiji towa nanika (Chūōkōron-Shinsha, 2003, Yomiuri Yoshino Sakuzo Prize winner) and Kokusaiseijigaku (Yūhikaku, 2013, co-written with Ishida Atsushi and Tadokoro Masayuki). He served as president of the Japan Association of International Relations from 2014 to 2016.
SHIRAISHI Takashi
Chancellor, Prefectural University of KumamotoShiraishi majored in international relations at the University of Tokyo in 1972 and obtained his Ph.D. in history from Cornell University in 1986. Shiraishi has lectured at the University of Tokyo (1979–87), Cornell University (1987–98), Kyoto University (1996–2005), and the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS, 2005–09). He served as an executive member of the Council for Science and Technology Policy (CSTP), Cabinet Office (2009–12) and president of GRIPS (2011–17). He received the Imperial Medal with Purple Ribbon in 2007.
TANAKA Akihiko
President, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS)Tanaka is president of the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS). He served as president of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) from 2012 to 2015. Tanaka was also executive vice president of the University of Tokyo (2009–11). He is chairman of the board, Japan for UNHCR and a distinguished fellow at the JICA Ogata Research Institute. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in international relations at the University of Tokyo in 1977 and Ph.D. in political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1981. He received the Imperial Medal with Purple Ribbon in 2012.
*information as of time of publication
