Profile

• Chairman and CEO, SANYO Electric Co., Ltd.

Graduated (in Engineering) from Doshisha University in 1956 and joined SANYO Electric Co., Ltd. in the same year. He was appointed as Director of the Board in 1961, Executive Vice President in 1985, President and CEO in 1986, and has served in his current position since 1992. He has also occupied the positions of Vice Chairman of the Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry since 1995, Permanent Director of the Federation of Economic Organizations since 1986, Chairman of Osaka Prefectural Manufacturing and Industrial Association since 2000, Representative Director of the Asia Pacific Forum, Awaji Conference Japan since 2000 and others.He received an Honorary Doctorate of Law from Boston University School of Management in 1990. He was awarded the National Medal of Honor for Philanthropy in 1970, the National Medal of Honor for Contribution to the Development of Industry in 1992, Recognition by the Minister of Post and Telecommunications in 1998, Excellency in Management from Keizai Koho Center (Japan Institute for Social and Economic Affairs) in 2002 and others.

• Columnist and Chief Diplomatic Correspondent, The Asahi Shimbun

Received his B.A. from the University of Tokyo in 1968 and his Ph.D. from Keio University in 1992. He served as a correspondent for the Asahi Shimbun in Beijing (1980-81) and Washington (1984-87), and as American General Bureau Chief (1993-97).His books include: Reconciliation in the Asia-Pacific (2003); Alliance Tomorrow (2001); Alliance Adrift, winner of the Shincho Arts and Sciences Award (1998); Asia-Pacific Fusion; Japan's Role in APEC, winner of the Mainichi Shimbun Asia Pacific Grand Prix Award (1996); Managing the Dollar: From the Plaza to the Louvre, winner of the Yoshino Sakuzo Prize (1988); Neibu: Inside China (in Japanese only), winner of the Suntory Academic Prize. His articles in Foreign Affairs and Foreign Policy won the Ishibashi Tanzan Prize in 1992. Among his current responsibilities are being a Japanese member of the Trilateral Commission, Contributing Editor of Foreign Policy (Washington, D.C.), Visiting Fellow at Columbia University's Donald Keene Center of Japanese Culture, Visiting Professor at the University of Tokyo.

• Professor, Faculty of Economics, Chulalongkorn University

Received her BA (1969) and MA (1971) in Economics from Monash University (Australia) and her Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge (UK) in 1978. After holding several research positions including as an expert at the International Labour Organization, Research Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (Singapore) and Associate Professor at Chulalongkorn University, she has served in her present position since 1998.For her contributions mainly in the academic field, she was awarded the title of Distinguished National Researcher in 1998 and has twice received the methi wichai awuso (Senior Research Scholar) award from the Thailand Research Fund. She has written widely in Thai and English on the Thai economy, Japanese investment, the sex industry, corruption, and the illegal economy. Her main publications include Thailand: Economy and Politics (coauthored with Chris Baker), which was awarded the 1997 National Research Prize (for the Thai version), Thailand's Boom and Bust (1998) and Thailand's Crisis (2000).

• Professor, Graduate School of Law, Kobe University

Graduated (in Law) from Kyoto University in 1967 and completed the master's course (Political Science) at the Graduate School of Law, Kyoto University in 1969. After experience in the posts of Associate Professor at Hiroshima University (1976) and Professor of Political and Diplomatic History at Kobe University (1981), he has served in his present position since 2000. He obtained his Ph.D. at Kyoto University in 1987 and held several research positions including as Visiting Scholar at Harvard University (1977-1979, 2002-2003) and London University (1990-1991).His main publications include U.S. Occupation Policy Towards Japan (two vols) (awarded the Suntory Academic Prize), The Occupation Era: The Prime Ministers and Rebuilding of Postwar Japan (awarded the Yoshino Sakuzo Prize) and The U.S. -Japan War and the Emergence of Postwar Japan (awarded the Yoshida Shigeru Prize). Aside from his academic positions, he also served as Chairman of the Council for the Japan-U.S. Center for International Exchange Fund, Chairperson of Subcommittee I of the Prime Minister's Commission on Japan's Goals in the 21st Century, President of the Japanese Political Science Association (1998-2000) and on the Board of Directors of the Japanese Association for American Studies.