About Dr Akira Igata

Dr Akira Igata is currently a Visiting Professor at the Center for Rule-making Strategies, Tama University. He is also a Senior Adjunct Fellow at Pacific Forum, a US-based think tank. He advises the Japanese government, bureaucracy, and the private sector in various capacities, including the Japan Parliamentary Alliance on China (JPAC).

He received his undergraduate training at Georgetown University (one-year exchange program, Heiwa Nakajima Foundation scholar) and International Christian University (Chris-Wada scholar). He subsequently received his MA in political science from Columbia University (Japanese government fellowship scholar). He was awarded the Aoi Global Research Award to study at the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Cambridge University in 2016. He was a recipient of the security studies fellowship from the Research Institute for Peace and Security (2010-2012) and has been involved in several projects by the Rebuild Japan Initiative Foundation. He notably contributed, as a researcher, to The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Disaster: Investigating the Myth and Reality (Routledge, 2014) and co-authored a chapter with Michael J. Green entitled, “The Gulf War and Japan’s National Security Identity” in Barak Kushner Eds. Examining Japan’s Lost Decades (Routledge, 2015).

His research expertise includes: Economic statecraft; Influence operations; International Politics in the Indo-Pacific; and Japanese security and foreign policies, Japan-U.S. alliance; and International Politics in East Asia.