A Platform For A Better Japan

Michael Auslin, PhD, is the Payson J. Treat Distinguished Research Fellow in Contemporary Asia at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. A historian by training, he specializes in US policy in Asia and geopolitical issues in the Indo-Pacific region. Auslin is the author of six books, including Asia’s New Geopolitics: Essays on Reshaping the Indo-Pacific and the best-selling The End of the Asian Century: War, Stagnation, and the Risks to the World's Most Dynamic Region. He is a longtime contributor to the Wall Street Journal and National Review, and his writing appears in other leading publications, including the Financial Times, The Spectator, and Foreign Policy. He comments regularly for US and foreign print and broadcast media. Among his honors are being named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, a Fulbright Scholar, and a German Marshall Fund Marshall Memorial Fellow. He also serves on the board of the Wilton Park USA Foundation. Auslin hosts the podcast The Pacific Century, covering the latest political, strategic, social, and economic developments in China and the Indo-Pacific, with a focus on US policy in the region.

During her public career, Jane Harman served nine terms in Congress, including four years after 9/11 as ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee. She recently completed a decade at the nonpartisan Wilson Center as its first female president and CEO, where she is now President Emerita and Distinguished Fellow.
Harman is recognized as a national expert at the nexus of security and public policy issues, and has received numerous awards for distinguished service. She has served on advisory boards for the CIA, Director of National Intelligence, and the departments of Defense, Homeland Security, and State. Harman is currently a member of the NASA Advisory Council, the Homeland Security Advisory Council, the Aspen Strategy Group, the advisory board of the Munich Security Conference, the Executive Committee of the Trilateral Commission and co-chairs the Homeland Security Experts Group with former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.   Earlier this year, she was named the newest Presidential Scholar-in-Residence at the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy.
Her book “Insanity Defense: Why our Failure to Confront Hard National Security Problems Makes us Less Safe” was published by St. Martin’s Press in 2021.

Merit E. Janow is an internationally recognized expert in international trade and investment, with extensive experience in business, academia and government, and a life long involvement with the Asia-Pacific region. For the past 27 years, Janow has been a professor at both SIPA and Columbia Law School.  She served as a transformative Dean of SIPA for over eight years.  She is the author of three books and numerous articles. In January 2022, Janow became Chair of Mastercard.  Janow also serves as a Director at the American Funds/Capital group, and several nonprofits including Japan Society (Chair), National Committee US China Relations (trustee). Janow had three earlier periods in government service: four years as a Member of the WTO Appellate Body; three years in the Antitrust Division of the US Department of Justice, and four years as Deputy Assistant USTR for Japan and China.   Early in her career, Janow was a corporate M&A lawyer with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. She grew up in Tokyo, Japan and speaks Japanese. She has a JD from Columbia Law School, with a BA in Asian Studies with honors, University of Michigan.

KONO Taro, 59, is a ninth-term Member of the House of Representatives.
Among positions he has held are Foreign Minister; Defense Minister; Minister in charge of COVID-19 Vaccine Roll-out; Minister for Administrative Affairs; Chairman of the National Public Safety Commission, or Minister in charge of the National Police Organization; Minister for Civil Service Reform; Minister for Consumer Affairs and Food Safety; Minister for Disaster Management; and Chairman of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives. He is a graduate of the School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University. He was Chairman of the Japan Race Horse Association and Chairman of the Shonan Bellmare Football Club, the 1995 Asia Champion Soccer Club. He is married to Kaori and has a son, Ippei.

Heizo Takenaka is a professor emeritus at Keio University in Japan. And was formerly Minister for Economic and Fiscal Policy etc (2001-2006). In his capacity as an economist and as part of his social activities, he also serves on several advisory boards and committees including: Member of the Policy Council under Kishida Administration; Director, Academyhills and Outside Director, SBI Holdings Inc. He was named to the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum in 2007. Professor Takenaka’s research interest is in economic policy.

Peter has more than two decades of experience at The Wall Street Journal as a reporter, editor and bureau chief. He joined the Journal as a Tokyo correspondent in 1999 and moved to the U.S. in 2002, where he served as a page-one staff editor in New York and assistant bureau chief in Washington, among other positions. He assumed his present post in February 2014. Peter is a graduate of Yale, where he studied classics and Japanese. With colleagues, he shared the National Press Foundation’s online journalism award for coverage of the Supreme Court’s 2012 ruling on the Affordable Care Act. He helped lead the team covering Carlos Ghosn that won the Overseas Press Club of America’s 2020 award for best international business reporting. Peter is fluent in Japanese and serves as a guest commentator on "Joho7days Newscaster" (TBS).

Ulrike Schaede is professor at the University of California San Diego. Her research focuses on Japanese business organization, strategy and management. Her book The Business Reinvention of Japan (Stanford UP 2020, in Japanese 最高THE KAISHA, Nikkei 2020), won the 2021 Masayoshi Ohira Memorial Prize, as well as the 2021 U.S. Axiom Business Book Award (silver medal, economy). In 2022, she co-authored The Digital Transformation and Japan’s Political Economy (Cambridge UP). She runs a biweekly webinar series called “Japan Zoominar”. Professor Schaede holds an M.A. and Ph.D. from Germany, and has been a visiting professor at UC Berkeley, Harvard Business School, Stanford University, and Hitotsubashi University. She is Associate Editor of The Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, and serves on the Advisory Boards of NBR Asia in Seattle, IGPI Inc., among others. Her website is www.thejapanologist.com

Sayuri SHIRAI is currently a professor at the Faculty of Policy Management, Keio University. She is also a visiting fellow at the Asian Development Bank Institute. She is also an adivisor to Nomura Reserach Center for Sustainability and Nissin Oillio Group. Previously, she was a senior advisor to EOS at Federated Hermes located in London in 2020-2021, which provides ESG stewardship services on firms and public policy in the world. She was a Member of the Policy Board of the Bank of Japan (BOJ) in 2011-2016, which is responsible for making monetary policy decisions. She also taught at Sciences Po in Paris in 2007–2008 and was an economist at the IMF in 1993-1998. She holds Ph.D. in Economics from Columbia University. She is the author of numerous books and papers on a variety of subjects including ESG investment, monetary policy, CBDC, and global macroeconomy and finance. She frequently comments on Japan’s economy and global monetary policies at varoius international and domestic TV programs and other media. Her latest book titled“SDGs Finane” (in Japanese) was published by Nikkei BP in September 2022. Another book titled “Global Trends Related to Cabon Neutrality: Policy, Money, and Civil Socieety” (in Japanese) was published in July 2022 by Bunshindo. Her English book titled Growing Central Bank Challenges in the World and Japan was published by the Asian Development Bank Institute in June 2020 (free download available). Her personal homepage is available at http://www.sayurishirai.jp/

Jesper Koll has been researching and investing in Japan since becoming a resident in 1986. Over the past two decades, Jesper has been consistently recognized as one of the top Japan strategists/economists, having worked as Chief Strategist and Head of Research for U.S. investment banks J.P. Morgan and Merrill Lynch. He currently serves as Expert Director for the Monex Group and the Japan Catalyst Fund (Japan’s 1st retail investor based corporate engagement/activist fund). His analysis and insights have earned him a position on several Japanese government and corporate advisory committees, including Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike’s Advisory Board. In 2022, he was appointed Global Ambassador for Tokyo’s Financial Center initiative. Jesper serves as Board Director of OIST, the Okinawa Institute for Science and Technology and is a Founder and Board Director of the Asia Society Japan and heads their Policy Committee. He is one of the few non-Japanese members of the Keizai Doyukai, the Japan Association of Corporate Executives; and serves on the board of several Japan-based start-ups. He has written three books in Japanese and, in 2021, created the acclaimed video/pod-cast series “Japan - Capitalism that works”.
Jesper is an economist, angel-investor, patron; and yes, a Japan Optimist.

Keiko Honda is Adjunct Professor and Adjunct Senior Research Scholar of Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, where she teaches ESG Investing to graduate students.  Keiko is also a Board Member of Ricruit, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and AGC and serves UN's Investment Committee.
Until the end of October 2019, Honda was the Chief Executive Officer and EVP of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), the political risk insurance and credit enhancement arm of the World Bank Group.
Before joining MIGA, Honda was the first woman senior partner in Asia at McKinsey & Company.
Honda holds a bachelor’s degree from Ochanomizu University and an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, where she was selected as a Fulbright Scholar.

Greg Mellinger founded HighQuest Partners in 2000, originally as an advisory firm, and was its CEO until HighQuest’s acquisition by Arc Network in 2022. Greg was responsible for HighQuest strategy while leading its teams to achieve strong growth and a robust market presence in the agricultural, food, and renewable energy sectors.
In 2006, along with his partner, Greg spearheaded the acquisition of Soyatech’s publishing and news business and recruited a team to expand in a crowded events marketplace. This organic growth effort established premier agricultural and food sector conferences and media/news products recognized as the top brands in their respective segments. HighQuest’s portfolio includes the world’s leading investment agricultural asset class conference series (Global AgInvesting), initiatives to improve representation and success of female ag professionals (Women in Agribusiness), and a sustainable organic and regenerative agriculture trade forum (Unconventional Ag). Greg is humbled by and enthusiastic about HighQuest’s role in supporting responsible investing to build and sustain the world’s food systems; in cultivating enhanced opportunities for women in ag; and in advancing the long-term stewardship of agricultural assets and the health of crops that people consume daily. With Arc’s investment in HighQuest, Greg continues in his leadership capacity within the Arc Network, as well as in overseeing HighQuest’s outstanding teams, and serving the thousands of customers HighQuest supports annually.
Prior to HighQuest, Mr. Mellinger served in executive and corporate development roles at PRT Group and RCM Technologies. Mr. Mellinger served as an advisory committee member of Mitsui & Co. (USA), Inc. from 2002-2008. Before his media and consulting careers, Greg was an officer in the U.S. Army, and is a 1989 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.

Haruka Miyake is an equity research analyst at Morgan Stanley. She joined the firm in July 2008 after graduating from The George Washington University with B.B.A. Haruka has been based in Japan, following/covering the Food and Household & Personal Care Products industries since 2010. Prior to that, she spent the first two years of her career on the US Apparel and Footwear team at Morgan Stanley in New York. 

Robert Alan Feldman is Senior Advisor to the Research Department of Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities, and is also a Professor at Tokyo University of Science, in the Management of Technology program. A leading voice on the Japanese economy, he has been a regular commentator on TV Tokyo’s World Business Satellite since 2000. His has written seven books on the Japanese economy in Japanese, and three in English; and he has translated three from Japanese to English.  He has a Ph.D. in Economics from MIT, and did his undergraduate work at Yale. He first came to Japan as an exchange student in high school, and subsequently spent study years at both the Nomura Research Institute and the Bank of Japan.

Hiroki Koga is the co-founder & CEO of Oishii, the world’s largest indoor vertical strawberry farm. As a vertical farming industry expert with a decade of experience in the field, he leads the innovative company that is transforming the way we grow food today.
Prior to co-founding Oishii in 2016, Koga worked as a consultant in the Strategy and Operations unit at Deloitte Consulting Japan, where he focused on the pharmaceutical industry and biotechnology before spearheading the firm’s entry into agriculture technology consulting. At Deloitte, Koga used his unique understanding of the Japanese vertical farming ecosystem to assist many of the country’s leading vertical farm operators to develop business strategies and expand overseas. Koga also worked for multiple venture capital firms to conduct due diligence on vertical farm-related investments.
Koga earned his MBA from the University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business, and graduated with a B.S. in economics from Keio University. When not at Oishii’s vertical farms, Hiroki enjoys playing piano and soccer, as well as trying new restaurants. He lives in New Jersey with his family.

Phil Libin, Co-Founder and CEO, All Turtles and mmhmm   
Phil Libin is co-founder and CEO of​ ​All Turtles​, a mission-driven product studio, and ​mmhmm​, a video communication app that helps you create, edit, and share awesome video instantly. Previously he was Managing Director at General Catalyst, and before that he was co-founder and CEO of Evernote, which he grew to become a beloved product for hundreds of millions of users.

Rie started her career in San Francisco as a consultant at McKinsey and Company, working primarily in healthcare, financial, and social sector projects and an externship project where she helped launch Teach For Japan.  After leaving McKinsey she relocated to Tokyo and spent several years working as a freelance consultant, where she launched a new hotel brand and acquired rockets for a space startup. She founded EventHub in 2016 and released Japan's leading event management platform in 2019.  Rie was born in the UK, raised in Japan and the US, and holds a Bachelor's Degree in Economics & International Relations from Brown University. 

Emre is General Partner at Globis Capital Partners, leading investments in IT startups targeting digital transformation of various industries. His portfolio includes GLM (acquired), Photosynth (TSE:4379), Sensyn Robotics, MFS, New Standard, Global Mobility Service, Shippio, CADDi, Matsuri Technologies, estie, and Leaner Technologies.
He teaches at Globis University Graduate School of Management (MBA).
Emre graduated from Harvard Business School (MBA) and Ohio State University.

Claire is a bilingual (Japanese/English) business executive and international lawyer, experienced with over 30 years of cross-border transactions.  She is currently a member of the Audit & Supervisory Board of ITOCHU Corporation.  Her business and legal knowledge as well as her effective communication skills make her an impactful leader, especially in a global setting.  In the past, she has successfully led the North American business operation of ITOCHU as President & CEO, and the global legal affairs of ITOCHU as its General Counsel.  In 2013, she became the first female executive officer of any major trading company in Japan. Claire has received several recognitions, including from the World Economic Forum, Yale University, Asia Society and the California Lawyers Association (Warren M. Christopher International Lawyer of the Year, 2018).  She is a graduate of Smith College (B.A. cum laude) and Cornell Law School (J.D.), where she serves on the advisory board. 

Mr. Satoshi Hirose joined Globis University in 2016.  His previous capacity was Co-COO/ SVP of BellSystem24, the largest Call Center company in Japan.  He also served as Executive Officer in charge of Corporate Planning, Operations and Technology at AIG/ AIU Insurance company.

Kathy Matsui is General Partner of MPower Partners, Japan’s first ESG-focused global venture capital fund. She is the former Vice Chair and Chief Japan Strategist of Goldman Sachs. She joined Goldman Sachs in 1994 and was named partner in 2000. Kathy was ranked No. 1 in Japan Equity Strategy by Institutional Investor magazine multiple times, and in 2007, was chosen by The Wall Street Journal as one of the "10 Women to Watch in Asia" for her work on the "Womenomics" theme.
Kathy serves as an external board director of Fast Retailing Inc., adjunct professor at Kyoto University’s Graduate School of Management, and has served on numerous government committees aimed at promoting gender diversity. She also supports numerous non-profit organizations, serving as Chair of the Board of Councilors (Japan) of the US-Japan Council, a board member of the Asian University for Women (AUW) Support Foundation, director of the Fast Retailing Foundation, member of the Council on Foreign Relations, The Nature Conservancy-Asia Pacific Council, and Keizai Doyukai.
Kathy earned an AB, magna cum laude, in Social Studies from Harvard University and an MA from Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies.

Maiko Todoroki is the President and CEO of Poppins Corporation. The company was founded 35 years ago by her mother, Noriko Nakamura, and their mission has always been to support working women by providing quality childcare and elderly care service. Poppins currently operates over 330 nursery schools across Japan and also provides in-home nanny and babysitter, elderly care service, and infertility prevention initiatives. Poppins’s IPO to the first section of Tokyo Stock Exchange (now TSE Prime Market) in Dec 2020 was presented as the first SDGs-IPO in Japan. She is a director of the All Japan Childcare Services Association. From 2021, serves as both a coordinator at the Japan Association of Corporate Executives and Vice-Chair of its Regulatory and Competition Policy Committee. She appointed as the director of Education Beyond. She is a mother of 12 years-old boy and 10 years-old girl.

Ms. Friedman’s 26-year U.S. diplomatic career included postings in Tokyo, Paris, Afghanistan, and Canada. During the Obama administration, she served as White House National Security Council Director for Afghanistan. Earlier assignments included speechwriter and political adviser to then-Ambassador Walter Mondale and, as East Asia Bureau Special Assistant, participation in the Six-Party Talks on North Korea. Following her diplomatic career, Ms. Friedman created and led her own consulting firm, The Wisteria Group. Ms. Friedman is presently Senior Advisor to The Asia Foundation and Affiliate Faculty in the Mathematics Department of George Mason University. She is on the Board of the Japan America Society of Washington D.C. and is the author of several books on Japanese haiku.
Ms. Friedman received her B.A. with honors from Harvard University; J.D., Georgetown University Law Center; and Master’s in Mathematics, George Mason University.

Nicholas Benes is head of the government-approved non-profit, "The Board Director Training Institute of Japan" (BDTI).  He has served as an investment banker at JP Morgan, founder of a M&A advisory firm, and has 14 years of experience as an independent director on a number of Japanese corporate boards.  He has also served as a governor at the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan, where in 2010 he led a White Paper proposing a productivity-led “growth strategy” for Japan. He holds a JD-MBA degree from UCLA and is an inactive member of the bar in California and New York. In 2013, he proposed that the creation of a corporate governance code be included in the LDP’s growth strategy.  He then advised members of the diet and the FSA, with regard to the content of Japan’s first corporate governance code.

Izumo is a founder and President of Euglena Co., Ltd.
It's the world’s first biotechnology company to succeed in the outdoor mass culture of microalgae Euglena for food use.
The core competency of the Company is its continuing research and development of Euglena for various applications, such as functional food items and bio jet fuel.

Akiko Karaki is a leading practitioner in strategies for Consumer Goods and Retail and Financial Services companies for Strategy&, PwC's strategy consulting group. Based in Tokyo, she was a seconded Partner to PwC Consulting in the UK until 2021 for 4 years.

She is a member of the Oversight Board of PwC Japan since 2021.

Dr. Olcott is Guest Professor at Shizenkan University in Tokyo. After graduating from Oxford University with a degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics, he worked in the airline and oil industries. On completing an MBA at INSEAD, he joined UK merchant bank SG Warburg (now UBS Investment Bank). In 15 years at Warburg, he served as Managing Director, Equity Capital Markets in Tokyo and CEO of UBS’s asset management operation in Japan. He completed a Ph.D. at Cambridge University in 2005 and has published articles and books in the areas of corporate governance and organisational change, particularly in relation to Japan. He has served for 14 years on the board of several leading Japanese companies including Denso Corporation, Dai-ichi Life Holdings and is currently serving on the board of Kirin Holdings and the Audit and Supervisory Board of Toyota Motor Corporation. In the UK, he is a board member of JP Morgan Japanese Investment Trust and BlueOptima.

Tamzin Booth is a Partner in the Japan team and in the Technology, Media and Telecoms team at Brunswick Group, the world’s leading critical issues advisory firm, based in London. She joined Brunswick in 2022 after 21 years at The Economist, most recently as Technology and Business Editor, covering tech from a corporate point of view, and previously as global Business Editor of the newspaper in 2016-19. In the three years prior to that she served as Tokyo Bureau Chief, writing on politics, economics, business and society. She has also worked as Britain Business Editor, European Business Editor based in Paris and as media correspondent.  Prior to this, Tamzin was a Staff Writer for The Wall Street Journal and Institutional Investor magazine.  Tamzin has been shortlisted for several journalism awards and was highly commended in the 2020 Wincott Awards for her coverage of global technology companies. She began her career as an Auditor for Coopers & Lybrand, before joining Salomon Brothers in Hong Kong as an Equity Research Associate. Tamzin received a B.A. in English Literature from Oxford University.

Takeo Apitzsch acquired expert knowledge and extensive experience in the fields of marketing, sales, IT and client management not only working with international Fortune 500 companies but also by running his own ventures.
Apitzsch then went into consulting in the tech and leadership development space and eventually was asked to launch digital operations for a global communications agency in Jakarta, Indonesia from scratch. He established an award-winning team, processes, and products with first-to-market approach from business intelligence, predictive analytics, micro influencer, and data informed rebranding to crisis management strategies.
Apitzsch today heads FleishmanHillard’s Media + Platforms for APAC and Methods+Mastery in Asia and advises clients on their digital communications strategies.
Apitzsch studied at the University of Cologne and holds a Master’s degree (M.Si.) in Marketing Communications. He is certified by Edith Cowan University, Australia in Strategic Issue Management and by the University of Cambridge, UK in Business Startup.

Yi Ren is CSO of SmartNews. With more than ten years of business management experience, Yi is responsible for overseeing strategy and corporate planning. Yi joined SmartNews from DeNA China, where he served as CEO, growing the organization into a leading mobile game publisher. He built the business from scratch, managing strategy and business development, into a successful game business across Asia. He was also involved in the establishment of Dream Incubator China in late 2010.

Yi graduated from the University of Tokyo's Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology School of Engineering, and completed his Master's degree there as well. 

Dr Collette Snowden is a Senior Lecturer in the UniSA Creative academic unit at the University of South Australia.  Her research and teaching focuses on Strategic Communication and its systemic application and effects. Dr Snowden’s research examines the transformation of communication and media practices, especially in journalism and public communication. Her research and teaching is concerned with the subsequent effects of the interaction between technology, time and space, societal structures, and policy. Her work has an emphasis on the diffusion of new communication technology and its effects and future potential. She is dedicated to interdisciplinary work with clear applications to ‘real world’ problems, while enabling effective knowledge generation. Prior to her academic work she worked in a range of communication and media roles - as a journalist, publicist, musician, community activist, political media advisor, and media strategist.

Ross Rowbury is Senior Managing Director and Co-Head of Group Corporate Communications at Nomura Holdings. He has observed Japan while living and working here for four decades. Commencing his career in finance in Tokyo in the early 1980s, he later moved into public relations and communications, holding senior positions at Gavin Anderson & Co. (now Kreab) and PRAP Japan. He headed the Edelman business in Japan for 10 years until July 2020. Prior to joining Nomura in October he was a freelance consultant to a number of firms on their Japan business strategy. He is also visiting professor of Asian marketing at Doshisha University in Kyoto and is on the Board of TELL a suicide prevention and mental health NPO. 

American technologist and product experience leader with a passion for RESILIENCE and renewal. Currently serving as chief technology officer of Everbridge where he leads the company’s long-term technology and product vision, including innovation and IP strategy.

Yoky Matsuoka is the Founder & CEO of Yohana, an independently led subsidiary of Panasonic focused on building consumer technology products and services to help people live healthier and happier lives. Matsuoka brings more than two decades of leadership experience to her role where she also leads global innovation and serves as the Managing Executive Officer of Panasonic Corporation. Prior to Yohana, Matsuoka brought her distinct approach to human centric design to leading Tech Giants including Google, Nest, Apple, and Google X.Before her work in Silicon Valley, Matsuoka’s career began in academia as an endowed professor at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Washington. During her tenure, she founded and directed the Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering and the Neurobotics Laboratory to create devices to restore the human body's capabilities for sensation and movement. Matsuoka received the MacArthur Genius Award for her work in robotics and neuroscience.

Miles Pennington is professor of Design Led Innovation at The University of Tokyo, where he is Director of the unique international and multidisciplinary DLX Design Lab. The lab collaborates with researchers at the university to create value through design. Previous to the University of Tokyo he was at the Royal College of Art in London and was Head of Programme of the Innovation Design Engineering (IDE) joint Masters programme with Imperial College - he is an alumnus of the IDE programme and graduated in 1992. He was also Founder and Head of the pioneering international exchange programme Global Innovation Design (GID). In the past, in parallel to his academic work he was a Director of the innovation consultancy Design Stream and more recently Director in the London office of the international design agency Takram. He moved to Japan in September 2017 to join The University of Tokyo.

Kinya is an award-winning design engineer experienced in a wide range of products including hardware, software and interactive art. He holds a BEng from the University of Tokyo, an MA from the Royal College of Art in the UK.  His work was selected as a permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. He was assigned as a visiting professor the Royal College of Art, from 2015 to 2018. With his contribution to the RCA, he was awarded as an Honorary Fellow, RCA in 2018.  Kinya is also appointed as a member of several design related committees of Japanese Government.

Leading the tenured team through an ambitious F&B renovation project, all the way from conceptualisation to reopening in summer 2021. SÉZANNE was awarded one Michelin star, 17th amongst Asia's 50 Best Restaurant, 82nd in World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2022. An exciting addition to Tokyo’s impressive gastronomic scene, the restaurant has become a go-to experience for epicures.

Melinda Joe is an American journalist based in Tokyo, Japan. She writes the “Kanpai Culture” column for The Japan Times and is a frequent contributor to Conde Nast Traveler and Nikkei Asia. Her work, which has been translated into four languages, has appeared in publications such as Newsweek, WSJ Asia, CNN, and Departures Magazine. A certified sake and wine specialist, she has been a panel chair for the sake division at London’s International Wine Challenge since 2014. This November, she will moderate a panel discussion at the EU Food Summit in Slovenia.

Chef /Satoyama Jujo
Gaulmillau Terroir Award winning chef Keiko Kuwakino is recognized as being at the top of her field of “local gastronomy”. She is currently chef of Michelin starred “Sanaburi” restaurant in the boutique hotel of “Satoyama Jujo” located in the snowy mountains of Niigata, Japan.
Constantly in search of new ideas and techniques, Keiko frequently travels to sample exotic dishes. While at home in Niigata, she collects local ingredients from nearby mountains and communities. The integration and respect of local culture and nature is pivotal to her cuisine.
Previous to working at Satoyama Jujo, Keiko trained in vegetarianism, yoga and Ayurveda. Her diverse skills and interests continue to inform her nature inspired, local gastronomy.

November 2, 1981 : Born in Hokkaido.
March 2004 : Graduated from Facility of literature, Waseda University
April 2004 : Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Russian Division
2005-2007: Embassy of Japan in Russia
2007-2009: Embassy of Japan in Uzbekistan
2009-2011: Consulate General of Japan at Vladivostok
2011-2014: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Russian Division
2014-2016: Prime Minister’s Office
2016-2018: Deputy Mayor of Teshio, Hokkaido
August 2018: Elected as Mayor of Yoichi, Hokkaido

Takefumi Hamada has been the No.1 ranked restaurant reviewer in the world for four consecutive years according to the OAD (Opinionated About Dining) Top Restaurants website, having dined at the best restaurants in 125 countries and regions around the world.
He is an advisor to businesses in entertainment, food and hospitality, as well as an investor in food technology startups.
Takefumi has a background in finance, starting his career as an investment banker before moving on to private equity. He holds a B.A. magna cum laude with distinction in Political Science from Yale University.

Paul Dupuis is the CEO of Randstad Japan, the global leader in the HR services industry. From a young Canadian backpacker, sleeping on a park bench in Japan, to leading one of the biggest corporate giants in the Asia-Pacific region, he has built a career through transformational leadership, crafted through his own real-life experiences as an athlete, volunteer and CEO. His best-selling book, The E5 Movement is a unique game-changing leadership model. 
Prior to his assignment in Japan he was CEO of Randstad India where he led a successful turnaround and was recognized by the Great Place to work Institute as the Top Leader in Time of Crisis. Paul appears regularly in media in Japan and globally on topics related to leadership and the future of work.

Mr. Seiji Inagaki has been the President of Dai-ichi Life Holdings, Inc. and The Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company, Limited since April, 2017 .
Mr. Inagaki served as Director at The Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company, Limited from June 2016 and at Dai-ichi Life Holdings, Inc. from October 2016 and Managing Executive Officer at The Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company, Limited from April 2015 and at Dai-ichi Life Holdings, Inc. from October 2016 , to March 2017.
Mr.Inagaki joined The Dai-ichi Mutual Life Insurance Company (currently Dai-ichi Life Holdings,Inc.) in April 1986. He has experience of the corporate planning, global markets, risk management in the financial services industry.
Mr. Inagaki has MBA from the Harvard Business School and Bachelor's Degree in Economics from Keio University in Japan.
Mr.Inagaki also serves as an Executive Board Vice Chair of BIAC （Business　and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD).

A graduate of Keio University, Ms. Shimada pursued graduate study at Columbia University, where she received the Master of Arts in Organizational Psychology. She joined Unilever Japan, and in 2014, was named as a board member in charge of Human Resources and General Affairs. Eyeing on motivation enhancement, she introduced innovative schemes administering how the employees work, notably Work from Anytime and Anywhere (WAA). Unilever Japan won Forbes WOMEN AWARD for 3 years in a row. In 2017, she co-founded YeeY Inc. It organized conferences on wellbeing that invited world-leading scholars (Drs. Martin Seligman, Ed Diener, and Tal Ben-Shahar). It consults companies on Human Resources and corporate culture to integrate well-being in business operation. Meanwhile, she collaborates with local authorities for restructuring their organization and developing appealing programs (worckations, e.g.) or schemes to enhance well-being of the people. In addition, she has been appointed to various expert advisory panels by the government on human development, workstyles, and well-being.

Sheela Subramanian is Vice President and co-founder of Future Forum. She holds 20 years of experience building high-growth global teams across Google, Slack, and startup organizations. As a champion for workplace equity, her work is cited in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, and other publications. She is also co-author of How The Future Works: Leading Flexible Teams to Do the Best Work of Their Lives. Sheela earned her BA from Stanford University and MBA from Harvard Business School and is the mother to two magical daughters.

Miki is a 30 year veteran of Boston Consulting Group; she joined BCG Tokyo in 1984, followed by 20 years in BCG NY and back in Tokyo again since 2007.
Miki has held a number of leadership roles during her time in NY while serving clients, including leader of the NY Consumer Practice, head of BCG's Post Merger Practice for 5 years and founded and ran the firm's Global Marketing, Sales and Pricing Practice Area leader for 7 years.
Back in Tokyo, she has served various industry verticals, esp. in the Consumer and Retail Sector and other B2C businesses and a broad set of functional topics. Miki has aslo served as the firm's Chief Marketing Officer and served on its Executive Committee until recently for 6 years. She is an expert and often speaks around issue around the consumer (having founded BCG's Center for Customer Insight), leadership and diversity.
She was recognized as one of the "Top 25 most Influential Consultants" by Consulting Magazine and “Global Champions of Women in Business” Financial Times. She is a member of the Japan Association for Corporate Executives.
She received her BA from Harvard College in Government and East Asian Studies and her MBA from Harvard Business School.

Vida Macikenaite is an Assistant Professor at the International University of Japan. With original major in political science at Vilnius University, Lithuania, she specializes in Chinese politics with graduate degrees from Keio University in Japan and Fudan University in China. While her major field of research is China’s domestic and foreign policies in the context of authoritarian regimes, her research has focus on state capacity and economic statecraft. More recently, she has also been working on China’s relations with Central Eastern European states and China’s exercise of economic statecraft there.

Kazuto Suzuki is Professor of Science and Technology Policy at the Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Tokyo, Japan, and Director of the Institute of Geoeconomics at International House of Japan.  He graduated from the Department of International Relations, Ritsumeikan University, and received Ph.D. from Sussex European Institute, University of Sussex, England.  He has worked in the Fondation pour la recherche stratégique in Paris, France as assistant researcher and the Associate Professor at the University of Tsukuba from 2000 to 2008 and served as Professor of International Politics at Hokkaido University until 2020.  He served as an expert in the Panel of Experts for Iranian Sanction Committee under the United Nations Security Council from 2013 to July 2015.  He currently serves as the President of Japan Association of International Security and Trade.  His research focuses on the conjunction of science/technology and international relations; subjects including space policy, non-proliferation, export control and sanctions.

Robert Ward is the IISS Japan Chair, carrying out independent research and writing extensively on strategic issues related to Japan, including its contemporary security and foreign policies. He also leads the Institute’s Geo-economics, Geopolitics and Strategy research programme, which focuses on a range of issues including global economic governance, rules and standards setting, and how economic coercion impacts policy at a national and corporate level.
Prior to joining the IISS, Robert was editorial director at The Economist Intelligence Unit. In this capacity, he led the EIU’s country and industry analysis and forecasting teams. He was also a member of the EIU’s executive committee. Robert lived and worked in Japan from 1989 to 1996, latterly holding a position in Japan’s largest credit-rating agency, The Japan Bond Research Institute. Robert holds bachelor's and master's degrees from Cambridge University.

Dr. Ken JIMBO is a Professor at the Faculty of Policy Management, Keio University. He is concurrently a Senior Research Fellow at the Canon Institute for Global Studies (CIGS) and the Tokyo Foundation (TKFD). He also serves as Advisor, the National Security Secretariat, Director, Board of Directors at the Civic Force and a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).
His main research fields are in International Security, Japan-US Security Relations, Japanese Foreign and Defense Policy, Multilateral Security in Asia-Pacific, and Regionalism in East Asia. He has been a policy advisor at various Japanese governmental commissions and research groups including at the Cabinet Office, the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
His recent books and articles include, "US Rebalancing to the Asia-Pacific: A Japanese Perspective,” in William Tow and Douglas Stuart eds., The New US Strategy towards Asia: Adapting to the American Pivot (London: Routledge, 2015); Ken JIMBO ed., Regional Security Architecture in the Asia-Pacific, Tokyo Foundation (2010) (in Japanese: Ajia Taiheiyo no Chiiki Anzen Hosho Ahkitekucha).

Maika was born in Tokyo, and was raised between Japan and the United States. Formerly a lead performer for Cirque Du Soleil, she is an engineer by trade. Maika attended Stanford University and proceeded to work for multiple startups in the cybersecurity, fintech, and research spaces. Most recently, she was a cybersecurity engineer with government at Microsoft. Maika is now the CEO of Webacy - building a safer web3 for everyone. She is a Forbes 30 Under 30 lister.

Joichi "Joi" Ito is a digital architect, venture capitalist, entrepreneur, writer, and scholar focusing on the transformation of society and technology. He works to respond to complex challenges such as our democracy and governance, climate change, and redesigning systems of scholarship and science. He served as director of the MIT Media Lab from 2011 to 2019 where he lead the establishment of the Digital Currency Initiative in 2015. He was the board chair and chief executive of Creative Commons and has served on numerous other boards, including at The New York Times Company, Sony Corporation, The Mozilla Foundation, The Open Source Initiative, ICANN and The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC). With his podcast Road to Henkaku he communicates how Web3 could relates to society based on broad view points including architecture, technology, and philosophy. He is currently engaged in a web3 community development projects.

Kenneth O'Friel is an entrepreneur, angel investor, and co-founder of WorkDAO, a company that provides a global crypto-native solution to hire and compensate contributors legally and compliantly. Before founding WorkDAO, Ken studied at Bates College and worked at Bank of America Tokyo.

Arisa Toyosaki was born in Japan in 1993. After spending her childhood in Japan and China, she graduated from Northwestern University in the United States. She majored in computer science and economics.
After starting her career as a derivatives trader at the Hong Kong office of UBS Securities, she joined Google Japan and was in charge of marketing for search services and AR business. In 2021, she dived into Blockchain industry and worked as a head of growth and marketing in Bitcoin.com, and founded Cega Finance, a decentralized financial protocol which provides exotic derivative option products using crypto assets in 2022. Now it manages over $30m.
She is also working for growth of crypto ecosystem. She joined Japan Blockchain Association, which educates Japanese institutions and regulators on web3 topics, as an advisor. Moreover, she is an angel investor in women entrepreneurs and web3 projects from Japan.

Justin Waldron is the Co-Founder and President of Playco. Playco is the world’s first instant gaming company, whose mission is to bring the world closer together through play. Playco partners with leading social and communications platforms to create innovative game experiences for players, including the global hit EverWing on Facebook, Sway Stories on Tik Tok and the smash hit Heads Up!, created in partnership with Ellen Digital, for Zoom. Playco recently completed a $100 million Series A. He’s an active angel investor in 60+ companies and previously co-founded Zynga. Zynga pioneered the social and mobile game industries and held an IPO (NASDAQ: ZNGA) in 2011 with a $10 billion valuation. It was the largest IPO since Google (2004) and the fastest-growing revenue of any internet company in history at the time, reaching $1 billion in annual revenue in just 4 years after its founding. Justin left Zynga in 2013 to focus on investing at the seed stage in companies such as Lambda School, Substack, and 60+ others. He mentors young entrepreneurs at The Thiel Foundation’s Thiel Fellowship program. He was named as one of the top 100 seed investors by Business Insider in 2021.

Alex Bradshaw has worked as Head of Overseas Business for Shimadzu Ltd since 2016, winning international recognition for his work in developing their 360-year-old World Heritage status stately home and gardens Sengan-en.
He founded GOTOKU in 2019 as a travel consultancy assisting with the development of regional tourism in Japan, particularly focusing on the luxury sector. He has since worked with the Japan Travel Agency and the Cultural Affairs Agency to assist in development of tourism in regions all over Japan.
Alex also works as Director of Overseas Communications for Kagoshima Prefecture and has secured coverage from major international publications on many occasions. He is also an Urban Landscape Advisor for Kagoshima City and is actively working to preserve the architectural heritage of Kagoshima.
Alex has been a student of Japanese cultural arts for over 20 years and is a practitioner of a school of swordsmanship called Jigen-ryu.

Raised in both Tokyo and New York City, Yuko Inamasu is an entrepreneur aiming to bridge the gap between the delicate and hidden heritage of Japan and the international community. After studying abroad for a year at Dartmouth College and graduating from Keio University with a degree in law, she began her career at Roland Berger, a European strategy consultancy, and worked on design projects at IDEO, a US based design company. She eventually came to combine her expertise in business and design as well as her own multicultural experiences to begin her own cultural experience producing company, "TOKI", in 2014. TOKI has grown since then, providing travel and events for cultural travelers and VIPs, brands from around the world. During COVID, TOKI has focused on 2 new projects, a new SaaS business for digitizing the travel industry, as well as the founding of a non-profit  foundation for sustaining traditional cultural assets in Japan.

Sawako ISHIHARA was originally from Kanagawa Japan. Studied in Kanda University of International Studies about international communication. Worked for H.I.S.Co.,Ltd. (International travel agent) in 2013 in Tokyo and in Singapore in 2015. Joined Vivid Creations Singapore Pte Ltd in 2017 as a travel marketing personnel. Introducing Japan to overseas, especially southeast Asian countries. Moved to Japan and started the regional development projects in Wakasa, Fukui pref, and the Oki Islands, Shimane pref starting in 2019. Sawako was one of the main members of producing Geopark Themed hotel “Entô” in Ama Town, she was in charge of branding and marketing. Currently belongs to Oki Islands Geopark Management Bureau as a chief marketing officer, focusing on integration of sustainable tourism, regional education, and conservation of local resources under the UNESCO Global Geopark program. 

Tak Umezawa has advised leading corporations in Japan and the US. Areas of expertise include strategy, innovation, marketing and organization. He served the firm’s global board until 2014.
As outside director, he serves the boards of GLOBIS Corporation and Cool Japan Fund, a public-private partnership fund which helps develop Japanese creative industries. He sits on the "Tax Commission" organized by Cabinet Office and “Technology Advisory Committee” for the Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
He appears as commentator on “World Business Satellite,” a business news program on TV Tokyo. He leads the "NEXTOKYO Project," a future-vision project for TOKYO by leading experts in urban planning, design, sports, art and business.
He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Law from the University of Tokyo, and a Master’s in Business Administration from MIT Sloan School of Management.

[Political and Professional Career]
09/2021-
- Member of the Lower House of German Parliament for the constituency of Ludwigsburg in Baden-Württemberg
- Member of the Economic Committee of the Lower House
- Member oft he Financial Committee of the Lower House
2016-2021
- Chairwoman of the German Green Party (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) in Baden-Württemberg
- Member of the Ruling Coalition Committee
2011-2016
- Economic and financial advisor of the green parliamentary group in Baden-Württemberg
2010-2011
- Advisor for budgetary policy of the green parliamentary group in the Lower House of the German parliament
2010
- Trainee programm at the European Union in Brussels
2006-08/2009
- Scientific assistant of Professor Dr. Uwe Wagschal at the University of Heidelberg, chair in budgetary policy
[Education]
2006-05/2010
- PhD candidate at Professor Dr. Uwe Wagschal’s Chair at the University of Heidelberg
Thesis: Reforming financial federalism. An international comparison
05-08/2008
- Fellow at the BMW Center for German and European Studies of Georgetown University, Washington D.C. and Institute of Intergovernmental Relations of Queen’s University, Kanada
1999-2005
- MBA in political science, economics and linguistics at Ludwig-Maximilians-Univerity, Munich

Daisuke Murata has served as President and CEO of Murata Machinery since 2003. The company manufactures textile machinery, machine tools, logistics systems, factory automation systems, automated materialhandling systems for clean rooms and communicationequipment.

He also serves as Chairman of the Japan Textile Machinery Association, vice president of the Japan Institute of Material Handling, Superintendent of the Japan Business Machine and Information System Industries Association, the SEMI International Board Member, and Chairmen of The Kyoto Association of Corporate Executives.

He graduated with a Bachelor of Economics from Hitotsubashi University in 1984 and obtained a MBA from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University in 1990.

Soichiro Shibata is a management consultant with Monitor Deloitte in Tokyo with over 13 years of experience serving multinational corporations.  For much of his career, he has specialized in providing strategy and operations transformation services to players across the value chain in the automotive sector, including OEMs, component manufacturers, dealers, logistics providers, and spare parts distributors.  Since 2021, he has co-led a team dedicated to the field of "geostrategy" (geopolitics, geoeconomics, and geotechnology), deriving insights for public institutions and corporate executives across all industries on the rapidly-evolving external environment.  He maintains regular communication with think tanks and thought leaders in New York, Washington DC, London, Munich, and Singapore.
Shibata holds a B.A. in Political Science from Yale University.  He is a native Japanese and English speaker, and also speaks Bahasa Indonesia and conversational Spanish.  Outside of the office, he is an avid marathon runner, independent traveller, food enthusiast, and photographer.

Toru Takahashi serves as President & CEO of GLOBIS Europe BV, Brussels, Belgium, offering the Pre-MBA course, global leader training programs to corporate clients in the EMEA region. He also lectures on topics such as Global Perspectives, Entrepreneurial Leadership in the GLOBIS University's MBA program. Additionally, as a corporate training instructor, he leads seminars on a range of topics, including establishing corporate strategy during overseas expansion, and leadership related to the localization of overseas sites.
Prior to joining GLOBIS, during his eight-year overseas assignment period at Marubeni Corporation, he was involved in infrastructure development projects in Iran and subsequently engaged in a wider range of businesses at Marubeni's regional headquarters for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa in Belgium. He has written "People who get results overseas don't use cultural issues as an excuse"(Eiji Press), and, in a joint work note, "GLOBIS MBA Management BookⅡ"(Diamond Inc.)
Takahashi graduated from Sophia University with a degree in economics and completed the Stanford Executive Program (SEP) at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Currently PhD candidate at the Bucharest University for Economic Studies.

Bill Emmott is an independent writer and consultant, best known for his 13 years as editor in chief of The Economist (1993-2006). He is now chairman of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, of the Japan Society of the UK, of Trinity College Dublin's Research Institute for Arts & Humanities, and of the International Trade Institute. He is an honorary fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford and is a visiting fellow at Tokyo College, University of Tokyo. He is co-director of a non-profit, the Global Commission for Post-Pandemic Policy and a member of the Comitato Scientifico of the Centro Einaudi in Turin, Italy. He writes columns for La Stampa in Italy, Nikkei Business and the Mainichi Shimbun in Japan, Project Syndicate worldwide and occasionally for the Financial Times. The author of numerous books, his latest is Japan's Far More Female Future: Increasing Gender Equality and Reducing Workplace Insecurity Will Make Japan Stronger (Oxford University Press, 2020).

March 1993,Graduated from the Faculty of Law, University of Tokyo
April 1993,Joined the Ministry of Finance
July 1999-June 2001,Assigned to HM Treasury, U.K. (First official ever)
September 2005,Elected to the House of Representatives for the 1st time
(44thGeneralElection)
September 2013,Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs
October 2015,State Minister for Foreign Affairs
September 2016,Director, House Steering Committee, House of Representatives
August 2017,Deputy Chairperson of the Policy Research Council of LDP
October 2020,Chair, Committee on Cabinet, House of Representatives
October 2021,Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary, Elected to the House of Representatives
(49th General Election, 5th term)

Pascal Lamy is the President of the Paris Peace Forum and of the European branch of the Brunswick Group. He coordinates the Jacques Delors Institutes (Paris, Berlin, Brussels).
He is also President or member of various boards with a global, european or french vocation (European Starfish Mission (ocean), Mo Ibrahim Foundation, European Climate Foundation, IFPRI, PECC, CERRE, TMEA, Antarctica 2020, Transparency International, Alpbach Forum, Beijing Forum, World Trade Forum, WEF, Global Risks, Europaeum, Collegium international, Musiciens du Louvre, Institut Mendes-France, Colbert Foundation, etc.).
He is an affiliated professor at the China Europe International Business School CEIBS (Shanghai) and at HEC (Paris).
From 2005 to 2013, Pascal Lamy served two consecutive terms as Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO). He was previously Trade Commissioner (1999-2004), Director General of Crédit Lyonnais (1994-1999), Chief of Staff of the President of the European Commission, Jacques Delors and his G7 Sherpa (1985-1994), Deputy Chief of Staff of the French Prime Minister (1983-1985) and to the French Minister of the Economy and Finance (1981-1983).

Ken Shibusawa founded in 2001, Shibusawa and Company, Inc., a strategic advisory firm for alternative investments, ESG/SDGs alignment and human resource development. He also founded in 2008, Commons Asset Management, a mutual fund dedicated to deliver long term investment opportunities to the Japanese household. Currently, he is working on a project to launch an impact fund to generate a new flow of capital to the emerging countries from Japan. He has extensive market experience at JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs as well as Moore Capital, a global macro hedge fund, where he was the representative managing director of the Tokyo Office. He is also director of Keizai Doyukai (Japan Association of Corporate Executives) and a steering committee member of UNDP SDG Impact.

Since Yumiko joined OECD in 2013 as the head of OECD Tokyo Centre, she has been at the forefront of policy discussions between OECD and governments, businesses and academia in Japan and Asia, covering a wide range of economic  policy issues.  She has been leading discussions with various stake holders in Japan and Asia, particularly in the areas of Corporate Governance,  tax guidelines, gender diversity, education, international trade and innovation.   Prior to joining the OECD, Yumiko held a number of leadership positions as a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse. Yumiko has diverse professional experiences, ranging from banking in New York and London to UN Peace Keep Operations in Cambodia.  Yumiko has an MBA from Harvard University, MA from Stanford University and BA from Sophia University.  She sits on the Japan Advisory Board of Harvard Business School as well as several advisory committees of the Japanese Government.

Dr. Moudhi Aljamea has a PhD in Computer Security Algorithms Design from King’s College London, Dr. Aljamea currently is the VP/Dean at the Academy from stc as the first Saudi women who occupies an executive position in the company and she have a vast experience in cyber and information security. Prior joining STC, she was the president of entrepreneurship unit and business incubator and an assistant Professor in cyber security at Imam Abdurrahman Bin Faisal University, and considered as one of the Saudis experts in the computer security field. Her main field of interest is Cyber Security attacks in the Cyber war also, the use of (AI) Artificial Intelligence in Cyber security . She also takes an interest in the field of on-line digital identity in Social Media. Additionally, she develop many security algorithms, published several papers on them, and participated in many conferences around the world giving talks about her areas of expertise. Dr. Aljamea got one of the top professional certifications in computer Security (Certified Ethical Hacker V10) CEH which is an international well recognized certification in the cyber security field.

Kenn Ross ​has helped lead the founding, growth, and acceleration of Minerva ​for the past decade.​ Originally from the United States, he has lived in Asia for more than 2​5​ years, where he is respected for his knowledge of higher education issues, education innovation, and China-US cross-border education. In addition to Minerva, Ross is also founder of the International Foundation for the Promotion of Academic Soft Skills (IFPASS), a US-based nonprofit that provides non-cognitive skills-based and experiential education in China. He regularly speaks at global education events such as TEDx and is also a frequent commenter on Chinese television, where he speaks on topics related to Chinese and international education. Ross’ 2015 book Academic Soft Skills (留学软实力) is considered by many in China as a definitive guide to preparation for global study. Prior to Minerva, Ross held executive positions in Fortune 30 and mid-sized multinational companies in the clean energy, technology, and consulting industries. Ross earned his B.A. from Middlebury College and M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Alex Scharf is the Director of Product for GLOBIS Unlimited, an online learning platform focused on business content. GLOBIS Unlimited has been used by over 150 companies globally with learners from more than 50 countries. Before launching GLOBIS Unlimited, Alex started GLOBIS' Online MBA program, Asia's first 100% live online MBA from an accredited institution. Alex serves on the Board of Directors at GLOBIS USA Inc., based in San Francisco, California. Alex has lived in Japan for more than 10 years, working in local government, technology and education, and is fluent in Japanese. He has degrees from the University of Washington and Oregon State University and has completed certificate programs from Harvard Business School and INSEAD.

Miho Taguma is a Senior Policy Analyst in the Early Childhood and Schools Division of the Directorate for Education and Skills at the OECD. She is currently the project manager of the OECD Future of Education and Skills 2030. The project explored, together with governments, teachers, students, busiensses, NGOs and other education stakeholders, the different dimensions of 21st century competencies which education systems need to develop in students towards the world in 2030. She led the co-creation process and produced the OECD Learning Compass, setting out what students need to thrive and shape a better future. The project is currently exploring the types of learning environments and curricula, including in the context of digital transformation, democratisation and new realities of globalisation, that support the development of future-ready students and teachers. Prior to joining the OECD, she worked in the Education Sector of UNESCO.

Ms. Kobayashi founded UWC ISAK Japan, a residential high school that opened in Karuizawa in 2014. UWC is an international education organization with a history reaching back 55 years that aims to cultivate courageous action, selfless leadership, peace and a sustainable future through education. Most students who attend UWC schools are selected to attend by national committees in 159 countries and territories worldwide. On August 1, 2017, UWC ISAK Japan became the 17th UWC. Prior to UWC ISAK, Ms. Kobayashi had worked for UNICEF in the Philippines, where she conducted non-formal education projects for street children. She began her career at Morgan Stanley, and holds an MA in Education from Stanford University and a BA from the University of Tokyo. She was selected as Young Global Leader from the World Economic Forum in 2012, Change-maker of the Year 2013 by Nikkei Business, Woman of the Year 2015 by Nikkei Woman, and Yale World Fellow 2017.

1989-1997 Researcher, Fishing Technology Division, National Research Institute of Fisheries Engineering
1997 Visiting Scholar, Behavioral Ecology Section, National Institute of Polar Research, Japan
1998 Senior Researcher, Fisheries Information Science Division, National Research Institute of Fisheries Engineering
1999-2000 Visiting Scholar, Thomas Hunt Morgan School of Biological Sciences, University of Kentucky, U.S.A.
2000-2008 Senior Researcher, Fisheries Information Science Division, National Research Institute of Fisheries Engineering, Fisheries Research Agency
2009-2015 Head of Bioacoustics Group, Fishing Technology and Information Science Division, National Research Institute of Fisheries Engineering, Fisheries Research Agency
2015-2016 Senior Researcher, Fisheries Resource Management Center, National Research Institute of Fisheries Science, Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency
2016-2019 Senior Researcher, Research Center for Fisheries Oceanography and Marine Ecosystem, National Research Institute of Fisheries Science, Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency
2020- Director, Policy Research Department, Ocean Policy Research Institute, the Sasakawa Peace Foundation

Meg Caldwell leads the Oceans team at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Prior to joining the Foundation, Meg directed the Environmental and Natural Resources Law and Policy Program at Stanford Law School 1994-2015. While at Stanford, she also served as the Executive Director of the Center for Ocean Solutions, a long-term Foundation partner in ocean conservation. Meg has been an active public servant, serving as a Senior Consultant to the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling in 2010 and on the California Coastal Commission from 2004-2007 and 2009-2012, including two years as its chairperson. Meg holds a Bachelor’s in Science in business administration from the University of California at Berkeley and a J.D. from Stanford Law School.

Acting as an independent consultant, Maria Damanaki is serving as a principal advisor for SYSTEMIQ (London), The Paradise Foundation (China) and Rockefeller Brothers Foundation (USA).
She’s a member of the Friends of Ocean Action of the World Economic Forum. She co-chairs the network of the High-Level Ocean Panel. She sits on the Boards: Monaco Ocean Foundation and Oceanographic Institute, European Marine Regions Forum (Berlin), Global Fishing Watch, Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), Global Fund for Coral Reefs (GFCR).
She served for five years as the Global Managing Director for Oceans at The Nature Conservancy USA. She served as the European Union Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries. Under her leadership, the Commission introduced a new Common Fisheries Policy that brought fish populations back to healthier levels. She was the first woman leader of a Greek political party. Author of four books on Gender and Human Rights issues, Education, European Policy.

Atsushi Sunami is the President of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation. He is also Director of the SciREX Center and Executive 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 Tokyo, Japan.
He is currently serving as a member of the Economic Security Legislation, Cabinet Office, Government of Japan. In addition, he is a member of Basic Policy Group under the Committee on National Space Policy in the Cabinet Office. He holds a BSFS from Georgetown University and an MIA and Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University.

Founder, Chair and CEO of Sailors for the Sea Japan, an affiliate of US NGO for Ocean conservation, founded by David Rockefeller, Jr.
MS/Kyoto Institute of Technology.  Ph.D. Candidate/Kyoto University Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies.

Bill Emmott is an independent writer and consultant, best known for his 13 years as editor in chief of The Economist (1993-2006). He is now chairman of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, of the Japan Society of the UK, of Trinity College Dublin's Research Institute for Arts & Humanities, and of the International Trade Institute. He is an honorary fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford and is a visiting fellow at Tokyo College, University of Tokyo. He is co-director of a non-profit, the Global Commission for Post-Pandemic Policy and a member of the Comitato Scientifico of the Centro Einaudi in Turin, Italy. He writes columns for La Stampa in Italy, Nikkei Business and the Mainichi Shimbun in Japan, Project Syndicate worldwide and occasionally for the Financial Times. The author of numerous books, his latest is Japan's Far More Female Future: Increasing Gender Equality and Reducing Workplace Insecurity Will Make Japan Stronger (Oxford University Press, 2020).

Ms. Matsukawa had worked at MOFA for 23 years at various posts including in Japan-ASEAN cooperation, Japan-China-Korea cooperation, International law affairs, and women’s empowerment. Her overseas posts include: at the Mission of Japan to the Conference on Disarmament (Geneva), The Deputy-Secretary General of the Information Corporations Service (Seoul). In 2016, she left MOFA and got elected as senator. She served as Parliamentary Secretary of Defense from 2020-21. Member of Foreign policy and defense committee. Deputy DG of International Bureau & Women’s Department at LDP. In July 2022, she got elected for the second time.

Sir Robin Niblett KCMG has led Chatham House since January 2007. Previously he was executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) from 2001 to 2006.
During his last two years at CSIS, he also served as director of the CSIS Europe Program and its Initiative for a Renewed Transatlantic Partnership.
He is a frequent panellist at conferences and events around the world and has testified on a number of occasions to the House of Commons Defence Select Committee and Foreign Affairs Committee, as well as US Senate and House of Representatives committees on European Affairs.
He received his BA, MPhil and DPhil from Oxford University.

Jesper Koll has been researching and investing in Japan since becoming a resident in 1986. Over the past two decades, Jesper has been consistently recognized as one of the top Japan strategists/economists, having worked as Chief Strategist and Head of Research for U.S. investment banks J.P. Morgan and Merrill Lynch. He currently serves as Expert Director for the Monex Group and the Japan Catalyst Fund (Japan’s 1st retail investor based corporate engagement/activist fund). His analysis and insights have earned him a position on several Japanese government and corporate advisory committees, including Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike’s Advisory Board. In 2022, he was appointed Global Ambassador for Tokyo’s Financial Center initiative. Jesper serves as Board Director of OIST, the Okinawa Institute for Science and Technology and is a Founder and Board Director of the Asia Society Japan and heads their Policy Committee. He is one of the few non-Japanese members of the Keizai Doyukai, the Japan Association of Corporate Executives; and serves on the board of several Japan-based start-ups. He has written three books in Japanese and, in 2021, created the acclaimed video/pod-cast series “Japan - Capitalism that works”.
Jesper is an economist, angel-investor, patron; and yes, a Japan Optimist.

Violinist Natsumi Okimasu and Tsugaru Shamisen Player Chie Hanawa, from Ibaraki, are both graduates of the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, formed Hanamas in 2009. Since then, they have been performing at live houses and events mainly in Tokyo. In 2011, they held their first overseas tour in Southeast Asia, which was widely reported in the local media. In 2012, they performed outdoors as parts of Tokyo Metropolitan Government-certified "Heaven Artists." They are featured frequently on MX TV and NHK.