We are facing various global crises, including COVID-19, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, geopolitical changes, economic crises, and regional security threats. Preconditions have changed drastically, and we are at a critical juncture to fundamentally reconsider policies and frameworks to deal with such crises. We need to address appropriate resources and policies, through building resilient global communities and knowledge-based resource hubs. GHIPP is strengthening global partnership by building the discussion platform “Japan’s Challenge” and sharing knowledge, lessons learned, and vision by creating new regional communities for resilience. This project is funded by the United States Embassy, Tokyo (2023-2025).
Next Speaker
32nd Special Dialogue
February 1, 2025 17:30 -18:30 JST (Online)
“Japan’s Challenges: Innovating Governance in the Digital Age“
Speaker: Honorable Kono Taro
KONO Taro, 61, is a tenth-term Member of the House of Representatives.
Among positions he has held in the past are Foreign Minister; Defense Minister; Minister in charge of COVID-19 Vaccine Roll-out; Digital Minister; Minister for Cyber Security; Minister for Administrative Affairs; Chairman of the National Public Safety Commission, or Minister in charge of the National Police Organization; Minister for Regulatory Reform; Minister for Administrative Reform; 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.
Dialogue Commentators & Facilitator
Dr. Narushige Michishita
Kiyoshi Kurokawa, M.D., is Honorary Chairman for Life at Health and Global Policy Institute. He was a former Vice Chair and Committee Member of the World Dementia Council and Chairman of the Investigative Committee on AI Simulation for Coronavirus Disease 2019 Countermeasures. He also served as Chairman of the National Diet of Japan’s Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission (2011-2012). Dr. Kurokawa is well known in his professional community both nationally and internationally. Because of his highly unique and unusual professional careers which span over 15 years each in both Japan and USA, he has been a leader in and an advocate for many academic and professional activities in Japan.
Hiromi Murakami is a visiting scholar at GRIPS and senior fellow at Economic Strategy Institute. She’s involved in various policy projects in US/Japanese institutions, including Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Global Health Policy Center, the Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI), and SAIS Johns Hopkins University. Prior to joining CSIS, she led Asia research as a vice president at the Economic Strategy Institute in Washington, D.C., and taught courses at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington. She holds an M.B.A. from St. Mary’s College and a Ph.D. in international relations from Johns Hopkins SAIS.
(Dr. Michishita will not be present at this time)
Narushige Michishita is professor and member of Board of Trustees, Vice President of GRIPS, and Deputy Director of Global Leadership Development Program. Previously, he was at the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Asia Program; he served as senior research fellow at the National Institute for Defense Studies (NIDS), Ministry of Defense and assistant counsellor at the Cabinet Secretariat for Security and Crisis Management of the Government of Japan. A specialist in Japanese security and foreign policy as well as security issues on the Korean Peninsula, his works include North Korea’s Military-Diplomatic Campaigns, 1966-2008 (Routledge, 2009). He is fluent in Japanese and Korean.