Prof Hidetoshi Nishimura

Supreme Advisor to the President of ERIA

Prof Hidetoshi Nishimura led the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) since 2008 to the end of June 2023. He was the Executive Director from 2008 to 2015, then the title of his position was changed to President from 2015 onwards.

Prof Nishimura’s career started in 1976 when he joined Japan’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry after he graduated from the University of Tokyo with a degree in law. Shortly after he joined the Ministry, he went back to school and received a Master of Arts degree from Yale University in 1982. His master’s degree opened the way to work on European issues and trade matters for the Japanese government. 

Throughout his career, Prof Nishimura has assumed numerous positions, including Representative of the Asia-Pacific Region of the Japan Overseas Development Corporation, Director of the Southeast Asia and Pacific Division of the Trade Policy Bureau, Vice Governor for International Affairs of Ehime Prefecture, Director-General of the Business Support Department of the Small and Medium Enterprise Agency, Executive Managing Director of the Japan-China Economic Association, and President of the Japan-China Northeast Development Association. 

He was a visiting professor at several universities, namely Waseda University and Darma Persada University. He was a Fellow of Meiji Institute for Global Affairs, Meiji University. Prof Nishimura has a passion for haiku, the Japanese short-form poetry, which he writes in his free time. He is also passionate about antique Chinese and East Asian ceramics.

Professor Akiko Yamanaka

Special Advisor to the President, Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia(ERIA), Former Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs and Special Ambassador for Peacebuilding, Japan

Professor Akiko Yamanaka has been active in both academia and the political arena. As an academic, she has been a By-fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge University and a visiting professor at the Graduate School of Hokkaido University, as well as at the United Nations University. Currently she serves as a Senior Diplomatic Fellow at the Cambridge Central Asia Forum serves and as a visiting professor at Tenjin Foreign Studies University. She has also been a Senior Visiting Researcher at St. Antony's College, Oxford University and at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in the United States. In the political arena, she has served as the Member of the House of Representatives of Japan as well as Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, Director of the Committee of Foreign Affairs, and Director General of the Women's Bureau of Liberal Democratic Party. Her areas of expertise include International Peacebuilding and Preventive State Theory, International Negotiation and Strategic Studies, and Intercultural Studies. On these and other subjects, she has written and lectured extensively. She has published many books including 'Think, or Sink: Preventive State Theory', 'Toward the Future: Human Security', 'From the Window of Oxford', and others. She was awarded the OISCA prize for 'Contribution to Asia' and International Soroptimist Japan's Sen Kyoko prize for her contributions to international understanding. She is currently working on Human Development for Peacebuilding, and on Human Security, especially water security, food security and energy security as well as on Natural and Human Induced Disaster Prevention and Mitigation.