Exploring the Potential of Northeast India: Harmonizing Cultural Diversity and Socioeconomic Development

After graduating from the Department of Educational Psychology in the Faculty of Education at the University of Tokyo in March 1990, Nobuyuki Konishi joined NEC Corporation. He worked for 5 years in the Personnel Department of NEC.
Then he joined the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), where he worked for 27 years on international cooperation projects in developing countries over the world. He was involved in formulation and implementation of development cooperation projects in Southeast Asia in the fields of higher education and vocational training.
He has also been involved in private sector finance and investment projects for social business in developing countries.
Since April 2021, he has been working for the Sasakawa Peace Foundation (SPF), where he is engaged in management of international cooperation and exchange projects with the Asian region, particularly South and Southeast Asia, and the Middle East.

Co-founder & Executive Director, Asian Confluence
Sabyasachi Dutta leads Asian Confluence, a prominent think-and-do tank based in Northeast India, promoting regional cooperation and civil society engagement through its “Third Space” philosophy. He has spearheaded initiatives such as the India-Japan Intellectual Conclave (KIZUNA), NADI River Dialogues, and India-Thailand Young Entrepreneurs Exchange.
His research focuses on geopolitics, water resource management, and sustainable development in the Himalayan and Northern Indian Ocean regions. He is a core author of IUCN’s CSO vision for the Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna basin and a long-time practitioner of meditation.

R. Madhu Sudan is a senior Indian diplomat from the 2007 batch of the Indian Foreign Service, currently serving as the Chargé d’Affaires, at the Embassy of India in Tokyo. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical and Electronics from Anna University and a Master’s degree in Translation and Interpretation (Chinese) from the Monterey Institute of International Studies, California.
Fluent in Malayalam, Tamil, Hindi, English, and Chinese, Mr. Sudan has served in key diplomatic roles across Asia and North America. His early assignments included work at the Foreign Service Institute and as a Desk Officer for South Asian neighbors at the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi. He was posted to Beijing as Third Secretary, later serving as Consul in San Francisco, and returning to Beijing as First Secretary (Political) and Special Assistant to the Ambassador.
From 2018 to 2020, he worked in the Foreign Secretary’s Office in New Delhi, followed by a four-year term at the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations in New York as Counsellor / Minister. His career reflects a blend of strategic insight, linguistic skill, and commitment to public service, making him a key figure in India’s diplomatic engagement.

Ryohei Kasai is a Visiting Associate Professor at Center for South Asian Studies, Gifu Women's University, Japan. Working on international relations of South Asia, history of Japan-India relations, and Japan’s Asia policy, he teaches these subjects at Komazawa University and Yokohama City University. He previously served as a political researcher/advisor for Japanese Embassies in Beijing, New Delhi, and Islamabad. Since June 2022, he has worked with the Japan-India Association as a director of the board (till June 2024) and an advisor (June 2024 to date). His recent works in English include “Confluence of Strategic Factors: Japan, India, and the Indo-Pacific,” in Srabani Roy Choudhury ed, India-Japan Partnership: Abe the Game Changer, KW Publishers, 2024. He is the translator of the Japanese editions of Dr. S. Jaishankar’s The India Way: Strategies for an Uncertain World and Why Bharat Matters, published by Hakusisha in November 2022 and March 2025 respectively.

She graduated from Waseda University’s Department of Literature and then worked in a travel agency for 28 years. She first travelled to India and Bhutan in 1976 and has since visited various regions in both countries. However she has developed a particular scholarly interest in Arunachal Pradesh, visiting it for the first time in 1995 and the Merak and Sakteng region in eastern Bhutan, which she first visited in 2006. After retiring, she studied for a total of 10 years at the graduate schools of Rikkyo University and Keio University in Tokyo. She majored in cultural anthropology, and in 2014 she completed a PhD in sociology from the Graduate School of Sociology at Keio University. In 2019, she published The Monpas: People of the Borderland between India and Bhutan with Hozokan and in April 2025, she published Ethnography of the costumes of the Monpa and Brokpa People : Western Arunachal Pradesh, eastern Bhutan and southern Tibet also with Hozokan. She is currently a researcher at the Japan Institute for Bhutan Studies.

Nathaniel D. N. Majaw is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mass Media, St. Anthony’s College, Shillong, where he teaches filmmaking and graphic design. He is also the Director of The Northeast India AV Archive, supported by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, Japan. The Archive is the first of its kind in the region, dedicated to collecting, preserving and providing public access to visual and audio materials that document the cultural, social, and political life of Northeast India. An alumnus of the Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, his work spans teaching, research and archival practice.
In 2022, he authored Moving Stones, a 42-page guidebook on the stone monuments of the Khasi-Jaintia Hills. He was part of the Australia–India ‘Unnati’ Research Collaboration Grants team in 2023, led by Professor Andrew May from the University of Melbourne. He is also the Coordinator of the SAC Peace Initiative Collective, a student–faculty collaborative platform at St. Anthony’s College that promotes peacebuilding through dialogue, education and cooperation, with the aim of inspiring similar initiatives across Northeast India.
Nathaniel is currently pursuing his PhD at North-Eastern Hill University. He has a keen interest in the history, culture and traditions of the communities of Northeast India, with particular emphasis on the Khasi people.

He is responsible for JICA’s operation in India and Bhutan.
JICA, as an incorporated administrative agency of the government of Japan, is Japan’s sole Official Development Assistance (ODA) implementing body. JICA has about one hundred offices overseas, in addition to fifteen offices in Japan.
Sunouchi has 22 years of total work experience at JICA and JBIC (Japan Bank for International Cooperation). He has been engaged mainly on development assistance to South Asian countries. As for overseas postings, he served as the Representative of JICA Bangladesh Office (2009-12).

Before the current position, he worked as Country Representative of JETRO Dhaka since August 1, 2019. At the same time, he was appointed as President of Japan Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JBCCI) and Secretary General of Japanese Commerce and Industry Association in Dhaka.
He most recently served as Chief of Cabinet Office of Japan in Tokyo for three years (2016-2019), where he was in charge of regulatory reform related to “The Ease of Doing Business”, especially simplification of administrative procedures and better regulation.
Mr. Ando began his government service at JETRO in 2008. His career spans a wide range of promotion of Trade and Investment issues, as well as several posts at Institute of Developing Economies, which is JETRO’s research Institute. He was also stationed at JETRO Dhaka (2011-2012).
Mr. Ando is a graduate of The University of Tokyo where he received his BEc. He also finished the Bengali Language Programs in Dhaka. He is President of Pan-Asia Research Institute (PARI).

Dr. Akio Ebihara is currently a Professor at the Faculty of Applied Biological Sciences, Gifu University, specializing in biochemistry. He earned his Ph.D. from the Graduate School of Agriculture, University of Tsukuba. After working as a postdoctoral researcher and later as a team leader at the RIKEN SPring-8 Center, he joined Gifu University. Since 2016, Dr. Ebihara has worked in the design, launch, and management of the International Joint Master’s Degree Program in Food Science and Technology between Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IIT Guwahati) and Gifu University, where he currently serves as the Program Chair. He is also engaged in implementing the “Glocal Expert Program,” a Joint Certificate Program between the two institutions, promoting academic exchange between Northeast India and Japan.

Specially Appointed Professor, Gifu University (Organization for Promotion of Globalization)
Prof. Miwa received his Master’s degree in Materials Science from the Tokyo Institute of Technology.
He joined NGK Insulators, Ltd. in 1981 and played a key role in R&D and business development in advanced ceramics, serving as R&D leader in Europe, Vice President and President of NGK Ceramic Europe, and later as Technical Adviser. He contributed significantly to the development and reliability evaluation of ceramics for semiconductor manufacturing equipment and ceramic components for automotive applications.
Since 2017, he has been affiliated with Gifu University, and since 2019 he has served as Specially Appointed Professor.
His expertise includes nanotechnology, structural and functional materials, reliability assessment of ceramic products, Japanese industry studies, cross-cultural understanding, and practical use of business analysis tools.