Kanehara Nobukatsu
Executive Director of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation
The inaugural deputy secretary-general of the National Security Secretariat

Nobukatsu Kanehara is the Executive Director of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation and a professor at Reitaku University. He 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 he retired from government service in 2019. He also served as Deputy Director of the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office. 

From 2020 to March 2025, he served as a professor at Doshisha University. Mr. Kanehara’s role in the Cabinet built on a distinguished career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he served in several 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 as 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.

Taniguchi Tomohiko
Former Special Advisor to the Cabinet of Prime Minister ABE, Shinzo (Foreign Policy Speechwriter); Specially Appointed Professor at the University of Tsukuba; Special Adviser to the Fujitsu Future Studies Centre; Chairman of Nippon Kaigi

While serving as a speechwriter to Foreign Minister ASO, Taro at Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2005 to 2008, he drafted the address delivered by Prime Minister ABE, Shinzo before the Indian Parliament during Abe’s visit to India. From that time onward, he continued to write speeches for the Prime Minister, primarily on foreign policy, until Abe’s passing.

From February 2013 to September 2020, he served within the Prime Minister’s Office, where he was responsible for preparing the Prime Minister’s speeches for international audiences. These included addresses delivered in Canberra, Washington, D.C., and Pearl Harbor.

Following the Prime Minister’s death, he contributed articles on Abe’s achievements at the request of publications such as The Economist. In addition, he has appeared live on major international broadcast news programmes on Japan-related issues well over 500 times.

Hakata Kei　
President, The Institute for the Free and Open Indo-Pacific (I-FOIP)
Professor, Seikei University

Hakata Kei is a full-time professor at Seikei University in Tokyo, Japan, with expertise in international politics and security affairs. He serves as the President of the Institute for the Free and Open Indo-Pacific (I-FOIP) in Tokyo. Hakata is affiliated with several academic institutions, including the National Defense Academy of Japan. He earned a doctorate in public law from the University of Nancy II in France. Prior to joining Seikei University in 2005, he worked for Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. His publications include Indo-Pacific Strategies: Navigating Geopolitics at the Dawn of a New Age (co-edited, Routledge) and China Challenges and the Indo-Pacific: The Prospects for a Free and Open International Order (co-edited, Chikuma Shobo, forthcoming), among others.

David M. Andrews
Fellow, Australian Strategic Policy Institute

David M. Andrews is a Fellow with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute's Defence Strategy Program, an Expert Associate with the Australian National University's National Security College, and principal of Haliastur Research & Advisory. David’s research is principally focused on alliances and institutions of defence cooperation, such as ANZUS, the Quad, AUKUS, and the Five Power Defence Arrangements. David previously held several roles at the National Security College, including as Director of Policy, and he earlier served for five years in the Australian Department of Defence. He holds a Master of Arts (Strategic Studies) with Honours from ANU, a Master of Arts (Ancient History) from Macquarie University, and a Bachelor of Social Science (Politics and International Relations) with Honours from UNSW Sydney.

Eleanor Shiori Hughes
Non-Resident Fellow at econVue

Eleanor Shiori Hughes is a Non-Resident Fellow at econVue. Her research focuses on U.S. engagement in the Indo-Pacific, Japanese and Australian foreign policy, the Pacific Islands, and the intersection of business, technology, and geopolitics in Asia. She previously worked as a Defense Analyst at The Asia Group and held positions at the Asia Society Policy Institute, Georgetown University’s Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, and the Japan Chair at CSIS. Her research has covered the U.S.-Japan alliance, economic security, supply chains, semiconductors, and regional cooperation in the Indo-Pacific. She is a member of the Pacific Forum’s Young Leaders Program and the Indo-Pacific Cooperation Network. Her work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Japan Times, and The Lowy Institute’s Interpreter. She holds an MA in Asian Studies from Georgetown University and a BA in History from Saint Mary’s College. 

Li Shih-Hui
Director, Abe Shinzo Research Center, National Chengchi University
Professor, College of International Affairs, National Chengchi University,Taiwan

Li Shih-Hui received his Ph.D. in Economics from Kyoto University, Japan. He has held several academic positions in Japan, including Senior Researcher at the Keio Research Institute at SFC, Specially Appointed Professor at the Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, and Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Economics, Doshisha University.

He currently serves as Professor at the College of International Affairs, National Chengchi University, Chairman of the Taiwan Institute for Japanese Studies, and Director of the Abe Shinzo Research Center at National Chengchi University.

Madhuchanda Ghosh
Senior Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Presidency University, India

Her research focuses on international relations, particularly Japan studies, Asian security, India–Japan relations, and the Indo-Pacific strategic environment, including India’s strategic partnerships and democratic resilience. She received her PhD in International Relations from Jadavpur University as a Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund (SYLFF) Tokyo Foundation Fellow and conducted research in Japan as a visiting doctoral fellow at the Graduate School of Political Science, Waseda University. She has also been a Japan Foundation Fellow and conducted research in Japan, including interviews with leading figures in Japanese foreign policy circles, among them former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

In 2018 she participated in the U.S. State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), visiting institutions including the College of International Security Affairs at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C., the Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver, and the John Glenn College of Public Affairs at The Ohio State University. In 2022 she was awarded the Fulbright Academic and Professional Excellence Fellowship and was hosted by the Asia Center at Harvard University. She teaches courses on global security, Indo-Pacific studies, and Japan’s foreign policy and leads the Japanese Studies Program at Presidency University. Her publications include the edited volume India and Japan: A Natural Partnership in the Indo-Pacific (2024).

Takada Shizuka
Research Associate, United States Studies Centre, Sydney University, Australia

Takada Shizuka is a Research Associate at the United States Studies Centre, working with Dr Michael J. Green. Her research focuses on Japan’s security policy, Australia-Japan-US security cooperation, Free and Open Indo-Pacific, and minilateralism. She is currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Sydney. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in international liberal studies from Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan and a Master of International Relations (Country Risk Assessment) from the University of Sydney. Her research thus far has focused on Japan’s Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) vision, and she is currently conducting her thesis on the analysis of Australian and Japanese approaches towards multilateral and minilateral security and economic cooperation in the Indo-Pacific. She is fluent in Japanese (native) and Italian (C1).

Hatakeyama Kyoko
Professor at University of Niigata Prefecture

Hatakeyama Kyoko is Professor of International Relations at the Department/Graduate School of International Studies and Regional Development, University of Niigata Prefecture. She earned an M.A. and a Ph.D. from Macquarie University in Australia. Before holding this position, she was a Research Analyst at Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and an associate professor at Kansai Gaidai University. She also served as a fellow for Asia Society (Australia), the Japan Forum for International Relations, and Nakasone Peace Institute. Her research focuses primarily on Asia’s regional and maritime security in the Indo-Pacific region, Japan's foreign and security policy, and economic security. 

Dr. Hatakeyama has written multiple journal articles, book chapters and books in both English and Japanese. Her publications in English include Snow on the Pine: Japan's Quest for a Leadership Role in Asia, with C. Freedman (World Scientific, 2010); 'A Middle Power's Roles in Shaping the East Asian Security Order: Analysis of Japan's Engagement from a Normative Perspective,' Australian Journal of Politics and History, Vol. 65, No. 3 (2019) and Japan's Evolving Security Policy: Militarisation within a Pacifist Tradition (Routledge, 2021). She regularly provides commentary to international media outlets, including the BBC, Bloomberg, DW News, and TVP (Poland), and frequently speaks at webinars and conferences. 

Shibuya Kenji
Chief Executive Officer, Medical Excellence JAPAN
Research Director at the Tokyo Foundation for Policy Research

 Kenji Shibuya is a renowned expert in the field of global and population health. He currently holds multiple prestigious positions, including, Research Director at the Tokyo Foundation for Policy Research, Managing Director at the Soma COVID Vaccination Medical Center in Soma City, Fukushima, and Venture Partner of Eight Roads Ventures Japan. Previously, Shibuya served as a Professor and Director of the University Institute for Population Health at King's College London. Before his time at King's, he held the position of Professor and Chair of the Department of Global Health at the University of Tokyo.

Notably, he served as a Special Advisor to the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) and was a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), a pandemic vaccine fund that invested in COVID-19 vaccines. He played a pivotal role in shaping the strategic directions of Japanese global health policy. In 2023, he will become the CEO of Medical Excellence JAPAN. Medical Excellence JAPAN (MEJ) is a general incorporated association, which was established to serve as the central organizational hub to facilitate overseas expansion in the healthcare and medical care sector, based on one of Japan’s growth strategies.