JIIA Center for Global Outreach　First Anniversary Message and Achievements

I am Takio Yamada, Executive Director of the Center for Global Outreach (CGO) at The Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA), and I would like to offer a few words of reflection and appreciation on the occasion of CGO’s first anniversary.

JIIA’s Center for Global Outreach was established on October 1 last year, with the generous support of many individuals and organizations, to strengthen Japan’s capacity to communicate its perspectives and ideas to the international community at a time when the global environment surrounding Japan is becoming increasingly complex.

Beginning with our inaugural seminar on October 1 and our inaugural symposium in November, we have developed our activities this past year around three main pillars:
1.    Promoting strategic dialogues and dispatching Japanese experts abroad
2.    Strengthening Japan’s intellectual contribution
3.    Fostering experts with global perspectives

Under the first pillar – promoting strategic dialogues and dispatching Japanese experts abroad – we designated the tenth anniversary of the Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) concept as our year-long theme and organized three major opportunities for strategic dialogue.

The first was a symposium held in Manila in March, co-hosted with Stratbase. We brought together leading experts from Japan, the Philippines, the United States, India, and other countries for a lively discussion under the theme “How to Safeguard the Maritime Domain for the Free and Open Indo-Pacific.”

This was followed, on May 2, by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s speech in Hanoi, Vietnam, in which she presented her vision for an “Updated FOIP.”

The second major dialogue was a July symposium held in Jakarta in cooperation with ERIA. ASEAN Secretary-General Dr. Kao Kim Hourn delivered the keynote address, and experts from Japan and ASEAN member states came together to explore how the synergy between FOIP and the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP) could be further developed.

The third was a session at the Tokyo Global Dialogue, hosted by JIIA in Tokyo in July, entitled “FOIP at its 10th Anniversary: Charting the Next Decade of a Free and Open Indo-Pacific.” The session brought together distinguished thinkers from across the region, including Mr. Keiichi Ichikawa, Secretary-General of Japan’s National Security Secretariat and one of the key architects of FOIP, Dr. Michael Green, Dr. C. Raja Mohan, and former Indonesian Foreign Minister Dr. Hassan Wirajuda. Their participation led to a highly insightful and forward-looking discussion on the future of FOIP.

Under our second pillar – strengthening Japan’s intellectual contribution – we launched “Japan’s Voices” this past February. To date, we have published 22 English-language articles and videos by some of Japan’s leading experts, addressing timely issues across a wide range of fields. These have covered not only foreign and security policy and Japanese domestic politics, but also intelligence reform, artificial intelligence, innovation, energy, and climate change.

We have also placed particular emphasis on video-based outreach. In addition to broadcasting our symposiums, we have produced interviews and dialogues with speakers, as well as podcast versions of articles published through Japan’s Voices. Altogether, we have released 64 videos on YouTube over the past year.

We have also actively used LinkedIn as a platform for our day-to-day outreach. Taken together, the CGO institutional account and my own personal account have published approximately 200 posts, generating several hundred thousand organic impressions.

Under the third pillar – fostering experts with global perspectives – we launched three programs: an Overseas Joint Research Program, an Overseas Fieldwork Program, and an International Conference Presentation Support Program. Efforts to send young researchers abroad through these initiatives are already beginning to take shape.

We started from scratch just one year ago. Thanks to the warm support and cooperation of so many people, however, I believe CGO has been able to make a successful start. 

I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to everyone who has contributed to and supported our activities, in particular the distinguished CGO Fellows Professor Nobumasa Akiyama, Professor Mie Oba, Professor Tetsuo Kotani, and Professor Stephen Nagy, as well as Dr. Shihoko Goto, who has newly joined us as of October 1.

At the same time, the international environment surrounding Japan has continued to grow more complex and serious over the past year, as illustrated by the Iran War and the Strait of Hormuz crisis. Within Japan as well, momentum is gathering behind efforts to strengthen the country’s foreign and security policies in response to this new environment, including the revision of the three key national security documents.

Against this backdrop, CGO’s mission of enhancing Japan’s ability to communicate its perspectives, ideas, and policy thinking to the world has become more important than ever.

As we begin our second year, all of us at CGO are determined to do our utmost to build on the foundations we have laid and take another significant step forward. We would be deeply grateful for the continued support, guidance, and cooperation of our many friends and partners, both in Japan and around the world.

Sincerely yours,

Takio Yamada
Executive Director, Center for Global Outreach (CGO)
The Japan Institute of International Affairs