How Japan Can Meet Global, Domestic Challenges and Develop the Human Resources Needed for a Brighter Future

Atsushi Sunami is President of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation. He is also Adjunct Professor and Special Advisor to the President at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) and Guest Professor at the Research Organization for Nano & Life Innovation at Waseda University. In the Cabinet Office, he serves as a member of the Economic Security Legislation Council, the Basic Policy Group under the Committee on National Space Policy and chairs the Okinawa Development Council. He also serves as Chairman of the Committee for Examination and Evaluation of the Subsidy for Research and Study Projects on Diplomacy and Security in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He earned his BSFS from Georgetown University and MIA and PhD in Political Science from Columbia University.

Nobukatsu Kanehara served as Assistant Chief Cabinet Secretary to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe from 2012 to 2019. In 2013, he became the inaugural Deputy Secretary-General of the National Security Secretariat, a role which he held until his retirement from government service in 2019. He also served as Deputy Director of the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office. Mr. Kanehara’s role in the Cabinet built on a distinguished career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he served in a number of notable positions, including Director-General of the Bureau of International Law, Deputy Director-General of the Foreign Policy Bureau, Ambassador in charge of the United Nations and Human Rights. He served abroad as Deputy Chief of Mission in Seoul, Republic of Korea, and Political Minister at the Embassy of Japan in Washington. He was decorated by the president of the Republic of France with l’Ordre de la Legion d’Honneur.

Akio Takahara is professor of Contemporary Chinese Politics at the Graduate Schools for Law and Politics at the University of Tokyo. He also serves as Senior Research Advisor of the JICA Ogata Sadako Research Institute for Peace and Development. He was dean of the Graduate School of Public Policy from 2018 to 2020. He received his DPhil in 1988 from Sussex University and later spent several years as a visiting scholar at the Consulate-General of Japan in Hong Kong, the Japanese Embassy in Beijing, Harvard University, Peking University, the Mercator Institute for China Studies, and the Australian National University.

Dr. Hide Sakaguchi has served as president of Ocean Policy Research Institute (OPRI) of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation (SPF) since April 2021, and as an executive director of SPF since April 2022. Previously, he served as Executive Director at the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC, 2018-2021). He joined JAMSTEC in 2003 and led various earth science programs as director of the Institute for Research on Earth Evolution and director of the Center of Mathematical Science and Advanced Technology. He specializes in granular and fracture mechanics, simulation science and programming, earthquake mechanisms and plate tectonics, and oceanography. He served as a principal research scientist at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Australia (1998-2002) and adjunct professor at the Earthquake Research Institute, The University of Tokyo (2002–2003). He has a Ph.D from the Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University.

Yuichiro Anzai received his PhD in engineering from the Graduate School of Engineering in 1974 and a PhD in philosophy from the Graduate School of Literature in 2018, both at Keio University. Was a postdoctoral research fellow and visiting assistant professor in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University; an assistant professor in the School of Humanities and Human Sciences at Hokkaido University; and professor of information and computer science in the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Keio University from 1988 to 2011. He concurrently served as dean of Keio’s Faculty of Science and Technology from 1993 to 2001 and president of Keio University, Japan’s first modern institution for higher education, from 2001 to 2009. He also served as president of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, the representative funding agency of the Japanese government for basic research in all the academic filds, from 2011 to 2018. In 2015, Anzai was honored as a Person of Cultural Merit for his pioneering contributions to cognitive science and leadership for the integration of information and cognitive sciences. He has received numerous decorations, including the Medal with Purple Ribbon from the Japanese government and the Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur and Commandeur de l’Ordre des Palmes Academiques from the French Republic.

Mari Suzuki holds a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from the University of Tokyo. Taught English at a secondary school for five years and spent a total of 13 years in the United States and Britain translating on a freelance basis. Her overseas experience enabled her to observe the US and British educational systems—from the preschool to graduate-school levels—and to compare them to the system in Japan. Worked for the Japan Foundation between 2005 and 2008 and joined the Tokyo Foundation in 2008. Was the senior editor of the English website between 2008 and 2011. Since 2012, she has been working for the Leadership Development section, which mainly administers a scholarship program offered at 69 world-leading institutions in 44 countries. Was the Director for Leadership Development between 2013 and 2019 and assumed her current position in July 2020.

Makiko Nakamuro received her BA from Keio University and her PhD from Columbia University. She was an associate professor in the Faculty of Policy Management, Keio University, from 2013 to 2019 and became a professor in 2019. She was also appointed Head of Digital Education, Digital Agency, in 2021.

Hikaru Hiranuma received his PhD in Social Sciences from the Graduate School of Social Sciences, Waseda University. He worked at Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., before joining the Tokyo Foundation in 2000. Has been a member of the Sub-Committee on Energy Supply Issues, Science Council of Japan’s Committee on Supporting Reconstruction after the Great East Japan Earthquake; member of the Expert Committee on Electric Power Transmission of Fukushima Prefecture’s Renewable Energy Promotion Council; and visiting researcher at the Center for Low Carbon Society Strategy, Japan Science and Technology Agency. Is the author and editor of numerous publications, including Shigen sodatsu no sekaishi: Supaisu, sekiyu, sakyura ekonomi (World History of the Scramble for Resources: Spices, Oil, and the Circular Economy) and Ijigen enerugi shokku 2050-nen e no ikinokori senryaku (Unprecedented Energy Crisis: A Survival Strategy for 2050), both from Nikkei Publishing.

Kan Suzuki graduated from the Faculty of Law of the University of Tokyo in 1986. After joining the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) and serving as an Associate Professor at Keio University SFC, he became a member of the House of Councilors for 12 years from 2001, serving two terms as State Minister of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT) during his tenure. In 2014, he was appointed professor at the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Public Policy and Keio University’s Graduate School of Media and Governance—the first such cross-appointment in Japan. He has served four terms from 2015 as Ministerial Aide to MEXT and as Acting Chair of the G7 Education Ministers’ Meeting in 2016. He is a co-founding member and current bureau member of the OECD Education 2030 Project, a member of the Study Group on the Promotion of the Use of Regional Well-being Digital Garden City initiative of the Digital Agency, Co-founder of the Society of Well-being, and Director of the Mitsubishi Memorial Foundation for Educational Excellence.