Hitoshi Tanaka
Hitoshi Tanaka
Hitoshi Tanaka is the Special Advisor of the Institute for International Strategy at the Japan Research Institute, Ltd. (JRI-Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group) since December 2022, after serving as the Chairman of the institute for 12 years since 2010; a senior fellow at the Japan Center for International Exchange (JCIE), a nongovernmental organization. Prior to joining JCIE in September 2005, he served for three years as Japan’s Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs where he was a top advisor to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on a broad range of issues, including relations with North Korea, China, Russia and the United States. As one of the main intellectual architects of Japan’s foreign policy, he has been a key actor in shaping Japan’s approach to East Asia. Before being named Deputy Minister, Mr. Tanaka held the posts of Director-General of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau (2001-02) and the Economic Affairs Bureau (2000-01); Consul General in San Francisco (1998-2000); and Deputy Director-General of the North American Affairs Bureau (1996-98). He was Director for Policy Coordination of the Foreign Policy Bureau, Political Minister at the Japanese Embassy in London (1990-93), a research associate at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), London (1989-90), Director for North East Asian Affairs (1987-89), and Director for North American Affairs (1985-87). In 2006–18, he was a visiting professor at the Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Tokyo. Mr. Tanaka holds a B.A. in law from Kyoto University and B.A./M.A. in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from Oxford University. He is the author of Mienai Sensou [The Invisible War] (2019: Chuokoron-Shinsha, Inc.), Nihon Gaiko No Chosen [The challenges for Japan’s diplomacy] (2015: Kadokawa Ltd.), Reimagining Japan (2011: McKinsey), Purofeshonaru no Kosho ryoku [The logic of strategic negotiation] (2009: Kodansha Ltd.), and Gaiko no Chikara [The power of diplomacy] (2009: Nikkei Publishing Inc.), and also JCIE’s English newsletter, East Asia Insight.
