Profile

Member of the House of Councilors/Former Minister of Agriculture，Forestry and Fisheries

Currently：Deputy Chairman and Acting Director，Research Commission on the Tax System（October 2015 - present）
Chairman，Kochi-kai（September 2012 - present）

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March 1979 Graduated from Yamaguchi Prefectural Shimonoseki-Nishi High School
March 1984 Graduated from Faculty of Law，the University of Tokyo
April 1984 Joined Mitsui & Co．，Ltd．
January 1991 Attended Graduated School at Harvard University in USA as a special student (political science)
February 1993 Secretary to Mr．Yoshiro Hayashi，the Minister of Finance
June 1994 Graduated from the John F．Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
July 1995 First elected to the House of Councillors (17th Regular Election，Yamaguchi Prefecture)
(Reelected in 2001，2007 and 2013；currently serving his fourth term)
September 2012 Stood for the presidency of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan

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July 1997 Deputy Secretary-General for the Liberal Democratic Party in the House of Councillors
October 1999 Parliamentary Vice Minister for Finance
January 2002 Chief Secretary，Administrative Reform Promotion Headquarters，the Liberal Democratic Party
October 2004 Chairman，Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense inthe House of Councillors
September 2006 Senior Vice Minister of the Cabinet Office
August 2008 Minister of Defense
July 2009 Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy
October 2009 Chairman，LDP Policy Board in the House of Councillors；Acting Chairman of the Policy Research Council，the Liberal Democratic Party
December 2012 Minister of Agriculture，Forestry and Fisheries
September 2014 Chairman，Research Commission on Agriculture，Forestry and Fisheries Strategy，the Liberal Democratic Party
Deputy Chairman and Acting Director，Research Commission on the Tax System，the Liberal Democratic Party
February 2015 Minister of Agriculture，Forestry and Fisheries (reappointed)

Former Ambassador of Japan to the People’s Republic of China/Chairman，Miyamoto Institute of Asian Research

After graduating from Kyoto University Faculty of Law in 1969，Miyamoto joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan．After joining the ministry，he served in the China and Mongolia Division，Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau，three times and worked at the Embassy of Japan in the People’s Republic of China three times．He served as Director of the China and Mongolia Division from 1990 to 1991 and as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the People’s Republic of China from 2006 to 2010．Moreover，he served as Director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Division from 1985 to 1987，Consul-General，Consulate General of Japan，in Atlanta in 1994，Deputy Director-General for Arms Control and Scientific Affairs in 2001，Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Union of Myanmar in 2002，and Ambassador in charge of Okinawan Affairs，Representative of the Government of Japan，in 2004．He is currently Chairman of the Miyamoto Institute of Asian Research，Vice President of the Japan-China Friendship Center and President of the Japan Association for the Study of Japan-China Relations．He has published several books，including Kore kara chugoku to do tsukiauka（Japan-China Relations：From Now On）（Nikkei Publishing Inc．），Gekihen myanma wo yomitoku （On Changing Myanmar）（Tokyo Shoseki Co．，Ltd．）and Shu Kinpei no chugoku (Xi Jinping’s China）（Shinchosha Publishing Co，Ltd．）．

Senior Professor，National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies

Kaoru Sugihara is Senior Professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo．Trained in Japan as an economic historian，he worked for the School of Oriental and African Studies，the University of London，from 1985 to 1996，before returning to Japan to serve for Osaka University（1996-2006），Kyoto University（2006-2012）and the University of Tokyo（2012-2013）．He has written widely on Japanese，Asian and global economic history，including Patterns and Development of Intra-Asian Trade（1996 in Japanese），Japan，China and the Growth of the Asian International Economy，1850-1949（ed．，Oxford University Press，2005）and Labour-intensive Industrialization in Global History（co-ed．，Routledge，2013）．He is a member of the Science Council of Japan，and was a member of the Executive Committee of the International Economic History Association．

Professor at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies，Kyoto University

Fumiharu Mieno graduated from Hitotsubashi University，Faculty of Social Sciences in 1992 and went on to earn a Ph．D．degree in Economics from the same university，Economics Graduate Program，in 1999．He was Research Assistant at Hitotsubashi University，Institute of Economic Research，Full-time Assistant Professor and Associate Professor at Hosei University，Faculty of Economics，and Associate Professor and Professor at Kobe University，Graduate School of International Cooperation Studies from 2003 to 2011．He has served as Professor at Center for Southeast Asian Studies since，Kyoto University 2015．During his career，he has been a visiting research fellow at Thammasat University in Thailand and at Columbia University in the United States．He specializes primarily in the theory of economic development，theory of financial systems，and Southeast Asian economics．His books include Kin，yu shisutemu kaikaku to tonan ajia（Financial System Reform and Southeast Asia）（Keiso Shobo，2015）and Myanma keizai no atarashii hikari（New Light on Myanmar Economy）（Keiso Shobo，2012）（jointly edited book）．