Narushige Michishita is Executive Vice President and Professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) in Tokyo. He is also Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council in Washington DC and Director of the Yokosuka Council on Asia-Pacific Studies (YCAPS) Japan. He has previously served as a member of the National Security Secretariat Advisory Board, a global fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington DC, a senior research fellow at Japan’s National Institute for Defense Studies (NIDS), Ministry of Defense, and as an assistant counselor 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, Michishita is the author of “The US Maritime Strategy in the Pacific during the Cold War,” in Sebastian Bruns and Sarandis Papadopoulos, eds., Conceptualizing Maritime and Naval Strategy: Festschrift for Peter M. Swartz, Captain (USN) retired (Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2020); Lessons of the Cold War in the Pacific: U.S. Maritime Strategy, Crisis Prevention, and Japan’s Role (Woodrow Wilson Center, 2016) (co-authored with Peter M. Swartz and David F. Winkler); and North Korea’s Military-Diplomatic Campaigns, 1966-2008 (Routledge, 2009). He acquired his Ph.D. with distinction from the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University.

Created by:

Riho Aizawa serves as a research fellow at the National Institute for Defense Studies (NIDS), under Japan’s Ministry of Defense, specializing in U.S. foreign and security policy toward China and military coercion in the Indo-Pacific region. Until 2023, she also served as both speechwriter and policy advisor in the Ministry of Defense’s Indo-Pacific Policy Division, supporting senior officials in shaping Japan’s regional defense initiatives toward ASEAN and the Pacific Islands Region.

She collaborates with Japanese and international think tanksーincluding the Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA), the Nakasone Peace Institute, and the National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR)ーon projects related to Indo-Pacific security, with a particular focus on the Taiwan Strait. She was a visiting scholar at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C. in 2024, and earlier served as a policy research fellow at the Edwin O. Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies at Johns Hopkins SAIS, as well as a research intern at the Hudson Institute.

Aizawa holds a Master’s degree from the Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University (2023), a Master’s degree from the Graduate School of Gakushuin Women’s College (2020), and a Bachelor’s degree from Gakushuin Women’s College (2016).

Created by:

Associate Professor & Senior Researcher, Center for Maritime Safety and Security Studies, Japan Coast Guard Academy

Specialty                                              International Law, International Organizations

Current Research Interests                  International Law, International Organizations, Coast Guards Cooperation

LL.D. Kobe University, Graduate School of International Cooperation Studies, 2003

Hague Academy of International Law, 2000

LL.M. Kobe University, Graduate School of International Cooperation Studies, 1997

B.A. Liberal Arts, Faculty of Social Sciences, International Cristian University, 1995

Erasmus Programme, Tilburg University, 1993.

Associate Professor (joint-appointment), GRIPS, since 2024

Associate Professor & Senior Researcher, Center for Maritime Safety and Security Studies, Japan Coast Guard Academy, since 2023

Visiting Associate Professor, Kobe Gakuin University, since 2022.

Lecturer, Kobe University, Graduate School of International Cooperation Studies, 2020-2021.

Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations, 2006-2009.

Cabinet Office, Secretariat of the International Peace Cooperation Headquarters, 2013-2016.

Embassy of Japan in Fiji Islands (also accredited to Kiribati, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Nauru), 2010-2013.

Embassy of Japan in Ghana (also accredited to Liberia and Sierra Leone), 2007-2010.

Foreign Policy Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2005-2007.

Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations, 2002-2004.

Permanent Mission of Japan to the International Organizations in Geneva, 1997-2000.

Created by:

2003. Graduated from the Faculty of Policy Management, Keio University.
      2005. Completed the Master’s Program at the Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University.
      2009. Withdrew from the Doctoral Program at the Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, after completing the required coursework.

A part-time lecturer at Waseda University (2007~2023), Keio University (2009~2023), and the University of Tokyo (2009~2023).

2023. Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Maritime Safety and Security Studies, Japan Coast Guard Academy, since 2023.

Majority: Chinese foreign policy, international relations, and the diplomatic history of East Asia.

Created by:

Jul. 2025              Deputy Director, International Strategy Division, Administration Department, Japan Coast Guard Headquarters

May. 2022       JICA Long-term Expert (dispatched to Philippine Coast Guard)

Apr. 2021        Staff, Security Division, Guard and Rescue Department, Japan Coast Guard Headquarters.

Apr. 2020        Deputy Chief, Administration Division, Administration Department, 8^th Regional Coast Guard. Headquarters

Apr. 2019　　　　Commanding Officer, PS TAKACHIHO, Tanegashima Coast Guard Station, Kagoshima Coast Guard Office, 10^th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters.

Apr. 2018        1^st Gunnery Officer, Yokohama Coast Guard Office, 3^rd Regional Coast Guard Headquarters.

Oct. 2016        Section Chief, International Education and Training Section, Education and Training Division, Japan Coast Guard Headquarters.

Apr.2015         Staff, International Education Training Section, Education and Training Division, Japan Coast Guard Headquarters.

Apr.2013         Commanding Officer, PC YUGIRI, Oita Coast Guard Office, 7^th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters.

Created by:

BIO　YAMASHITA Yuichiro

M.A. in Security Studies

Apr. 2025        Senior Research Officer, Administration Department, Japan Coast Guard Headquarters

Apr. 2024             Commanding Officer, SHIMODA Coast Guard Office

Apr. 2022             Commanding Officer, WAKAYAMA Coast Guard Office

Captain of the Port, WAKAYAMA-SHIMOTSU

Mar. 2020            Commanding Officer, AOMORI Coast Guard Office

Captain of the Port, AOMORI

Apr. 2019             Director, Administration Department, 6^th Coast Guard Regional Headquarters

Apr. 2018             Director, System Management & Processing Office, Japan Coast Guard Headquarters

Apr. 2015             Director for Info-Communications Planning & Coordination, Japan Coast Guard

Headquarters

Nov. 2013                  Chief Communication Officer, Patrol Vessel AKITSUSHIMA, Yokohama Coast Guard Office

Apr. 2010                  Deputy Director, International & Crisis Management Division, Japan Coast Guard Headquarters

Jun. 2008                   Special Assistant for Director, Personnel Division, Japan Coast Guard Headquarters

Jun. 2007                   Chief, Guard Division, 2^nd Regional Coast Guard Headquarters

Apr. 2005                  Guard & Rescue Division, KUSHIRO Coast Guard Office

Apr. 2003                  Intelligence Officer, Special Office, Guard & Rescue Department, Japan Coast Guard Headquarters

Apr. 2001                  Graduated School for International Security Studies, National Defense Academy

Apr. 1999                  Chief, Special Office, Guard & Rescue Department, Japan Coast Guard Headquarters

Created by:

PROFESSOR YOICHIRO SATO holds a BA (Law) from Keio University, MA (International Studies) from University of South Carolina, and Ph.D (Political Science) from University of Hawaii. He currently teaches at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University. He also held other positions including a lecturership at Auckland University, professorship at the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies (APCSS) of the U.S. Department of Defense, and a visiting senior research fellow at Yusof Ishak Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS). His most recent works include Handbook of Indo-Pacific Studies (co-edited with Barbara Kratiuk, Jeroen Van den Bosch, and Aleksandra Jaskólska, Routledge, 2023), Alliances in Asia and Europe: The Evolving Indo-Pacific Strategic Context and Inter-Regional Alignments (co-edited with Elena Atanassova-Cornelis and Tom Sauer, Routledge, 2023), and Security Order and Strategic Alignment in Europe and the Asia-Pacific: Times of Global Power Shifts (co-edited with Elena Atanassova-Cornelis and Tom Sauer, Routledge, 2025). He is active in media and foreign policy circles, appearing and having written for and been quoted, in more than 30 media and think tank outlets globally, including BBC, Al Jazeera, and Bloomberg.

Created by:

Kazuki BABA is

an Assistant Professor and Research Fellow of Center for Maritime Safety and Security Studies at Japan Coast Guard Academy.

He is also a visiting researcher at Ritsumeikan University and Editorial Advisory Board for International Journal of Korean Unification Studies by Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU).

His main research discipline is International Relations, fields of interest are Japan-Korea relations, Japan-US-South Korea trilateral relations and Japan-US alliance on Indo-Pacific.

Created by:

Education Japan Coast Guard Academy, 1989 Assignments April 2011: Deputy Director, Personnel Div., JCG HQs. April 2014: Yokohama Coast Guard Office April 2015: Chief, Nemuro Coast Guard Office April 2017: Director, Administration Dept., 11th Regional Coast Guard HQs. April 2018: Director, Education and Training Div., JCG HQs. March 2020: Director, Administration Div., Guard and Rescue Dept., JCG HQs. October 2021: Deputy Commander, 3th Regional Coast Guard HQs. April 2022: Superintendent, Coast Guard School July 2023: Director General, Guard and Rescue Department, JCG HQs. July 2024: Vice Commandant for Operations

Created by:

Katsuya “Kats” Yamamoto, retired as Rear Admiral from the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF), joined the Sasakawa Peace Foundation in 2023. Kats graduated from the Japan National Defense Academy and earned a Master of Policy Studies degree from the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies. He studied as a military student at the U.S. Coast Guard Training Center and at the PLA National Defense University. He was a surface warfare officer, serving onboard various destroyers including as the commanding officer, and served onshore as Chief of the International Policy Planning at the Joint Staff Office, Director of the National Security & Strategic Studies Office at the JMSDF Staff College and Director of Education at the National Institute for Defense Studies. Kats served abroad as Defense/Naval Attaché to China (2008 to 2011) and President of the Naval Attaché Corps in Beijing, and International Military Professor of the U.S. Naval War College (2016 to 2018). He is Board member of the Japan-America Society of Southern New England, and Visiting Fellow of the Philippine Public Safety College.

Created by: