Hitoshi Tanaka

Hitoshi Tanaka is Chairman of the Institute for International Strategy at the Japan Research Institute, Ltd., and a senior fellow at the Japan Center for International Exchange. Prior to joining JCIE in September 2005,Tanaka 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, he held various posts at the Foreign Ministry including Director-General of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau and Economic Affairs Bureau; Consul General in San Francisco; and Deputy Director-General of the North American Affairs Bureau. In 2006–2018, he was a visiting professor at the Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Tokyo. Tanaka holds a BA in law from Kyoto University and BA/MA in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) 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 policy brief series, East Asia Insights.