Profile

• Former President of the National Governors' Association / Former Governor of Gifu Prefecture

Born in 1933. Graduated from the Faculty of Law of Kyoto University. After serving in positions at the Ministry of Construction, including Director of Budget and Accounts Division of the Minister's Secretariat, Director-General of the Road Bureau and Director-General of the City Bureau, he became Vice Governor of Gifu Prefecture in 1985. In 1989 he was elected as Governor of Gifu Prefecture. He held this position for four consecutive terms over a 16-year period before his retirement in February 2005. He has been promoting decentralization reforms as President of the National Governors' Association since September 2003. Currently, he serves in a variety of positions, including Senior Policy Advisor to Gifu Prefectural Government and the Chairperson of Gifu Events & Sports Promotion Foundation.

• Director, Toshiba Corporation

Born in 1936. Graduated from the Faculty of Law of the University of Tokyo in 1960, entering the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the same year. He has served in a variety of positions, including Director, China and Mongolia Division, Asian Affairs Bureau (1978-1980), Private Secretary to the Prime Minister, Prime Minister's Office (1980-1984), Director-General, Asian Affairs Bureau (1989-1992), Chief Cabinet Councillor, Councillor's Office on External Affairs, Cabinet Secretariat (1992-1995), Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to India (1995-1998), and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the People's Republic of China (1998-2001). He retired from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2001. In 2001 he was appointed Director of Toshiba Corporation, a position he still holds. From 2002 he has also been serving as a Visiting Professor at the Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies of Waseda University.

• Professor, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo

Yukiko Fukagawa is currently a Professor of Korea study program, the University of Tokyo. After graduating from Waseda University in 1981, she worked for Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) and LTCB Research Institute as an economist before starting to teach at Aoyama Gakuin University in 1997. Prof. Fukagawa has studied Korean economic development all through her through her career as a practitioner as well as an academician, writing many books and articles on Korea. Recently, she participated in writing “Japan-Korea Free Trade Agreement Joint Study Group Report”. She holds M.A. from Yale University (international economics) and finished Ph.D program at Waseda (economic history), as well as studying at Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade (KIET) and Korea University as a visiting fellow.

• Head, Social Sciences Division International Rice Research Institute(IRRI)

Dr. Hossain is Head of the Social Sciences Division and Leader of Fragile Ecosystems Program at IRRI. Before joining IRRI in 1992, he was the Director General of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, Dhaka. He also worked as a Visiting Scientist at the Institute of Developing Economies in Tokyo (1981), the International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington DC (1985-87), and the Overseas Development Institute, London (1990). Dr. Hossain received MA in Economics from Dhaka University in 1969 and PhD in Economics from Cambridge University, England in 1977. He began his career in 1970 as a Staff Economist at the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics in Karachi. The Institute relocated to Dhaka during the civil war in 1971. He rose through the ranks and became Director General in 1989. Dr. Hossain's major area of research interest is rural development policies. He has been conducting research on understanding rural livelihoods and factors contributing to changes in income distribution and poverty focusing on Bangladesh, Eastern India, Vietnam and Thailand. He has been heavily involved in developing IRRI's Strategy and Medium Term Plans. He has authored nine books and over 100 papers in refereed journals and edited books.

• Senior Executive Director , JA Zenchu (Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives)

Toshio Yamada was born in Toyama Prefecture in 1946, and graduated from the School of Political Science and Economics at Waseda University in 1969. He joined the Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives the same year and became promoted to Manager of the Rice Policy Section, Agriculture and Livestock Department in 1985. He was later appointed to General Manager of the Organization and Management Department in 1993, to General Manager of the Agricultural Commodity Policy Department in 1994, and to Executive Director in 1996. In 1999 he was assigned to his current role as Senior Executive Director. His political affiliations include serving as a special member of the Planning Subcommittee and the Staple Food Subcommittee of the Policy Council on Food, Agricultural, and Rural Areas.

• Dean, Graduate School of International Cooperation Studies, Kobe University

After receiving his doctoral degree from the Law School of Kyoto University, he joined the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University as research associate in 1981. He then moved to the Faculty of General Education, Okayama University as associate professor in 1987. In 1993 he joined the Graduate School of International Cooperation Studies, Kobe University as associate professor and as professor since 1996. Prior to that he served as researcher at the Japanese Embassy to the Philippines, analyzing the early years of the Ramos Administration. He is specialized in Southeast Asian politics centering on Philippine politics.