Special Dialogue

We are facing various crises of global pandemic including COVID-19, Russia’s war, geopolitical changes, economic crises, and regional security threat. Preconditions have changed drastically, and we are at a critical juncture to fundamentally reconsider policies and framework to deal with such crises. We need to address appropriate resources and policies, through building resilient global communities and knowledge-based resource hubs. GHIPP is strengthening global partnership by building discussion platforms “Japan’s challenge” and sharing knowledge, lessons learned, and vision by creating new regional communities for resilience.

This project is funded by the United States Embassy, Tokyo.

Next Speaker

September 22

September 22, 2023 14:00 -15:00 JST @ GRIPS Sokairo Hall
The U.S. and Japan: Meeting the Growing PRC/Russia Military Challenge in the East China Sea

Speaker: U.S. Ambassador Rahm Emanuel

Ambassador Rahm Emanuel

Rahm Emanuel was confirmed in a bipartisan vote as the 31st United States Ambassador to Japan on December 18, 2021.  Previously, Ambassador Emanuel was the 55th Mayor of the City of Chicago, a position he held until May 2019. During that time, he made the critical choices necessary to secure Chicago’s future as a global capital. As Mayor, the Ambassador added four years to a student’s education. He increased the school day by 75 minutes and added more than 200 hours to the school year, marking the largest single increase in educational time by any city and taking Chicago from having the least educational time of any large school district in the country to being on par with its peers. He implemented universal pre-kindergarten and full-day kindergarten for every Chicago child, and made Chicago the first city in America to provide free community college.

Prior to becoming Mayor, from November 2008 until October 2010, Ambassador Emanuel served as President Barack Obama’s Chief of Staff. In addition to being the President’s top advisor, the Ambassador helped the Obama administration secure the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and the landmark Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Ambassador Emanuel was elected four times as a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois’s 5th Congressional District (2002-2008). As Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, Emanuel helped pass legislation to raise the minimum wage and authored the Great Lakes Restoration Act.

From 1993 to 1998, Ambassador Emanuel was a key member of President Bill Clinton’s administration, rising to serve as Senior Advisor to the President for Policy and Politics. During this time, Emanuel served as a legislative liaison to Congress and spearheaded efforts to pass several of President Clinton’s signature achievements, most notably the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, and the historic Balanced Budget Act, which created the Children’s Health Insurance Program that expanded health care coverage to 10 million children. The Ambassador also worked closely with President Joseph R. Biden Jr., then a U.S. Senator, to shepherd the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 through Congress. As a former Senior Counselor at Centerview Partners and former Managing Director at Wasserstein Perella & Co., Emanuel brings a depth of financial experience to the post. Ambassador Emanuel graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1981 and received a Master’s Degree in Speech and Communication from Northwestern University in 1985. He is married to Amy Rule, and they have three children.

Welcoming remarks & Facilitator

Dr. Kiyoshi Kurokawa
黒川清名誉教授

Dr. Narushige Michishita
道下徳成教授


Dr. Hiromi Murakami
(司会)村上博美 
客員研究員

Kiyoshi Kurokawa is professor emeritus at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Vice Chair and Committee Member of the World Dementia Council and Chairman of the Investigative Committee on AI Simulation for Coronavirus Disease 2019 Countermeasures. He also served as Chairman of the National Diet of Japan’s Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission (2011-2012). Dr. Kurokawa is well known in his professional community both nationally and internationally. Because of his highly unique and unusual professional careers which span over 15 years each in both Japan and USA, he has been a leader in and an advocate for many academic and professional activities in Japan. 

Narushige Michishita is professor and member of Board of Trustees, Vice President of GRIPS, and Deputy Director of Global Leadership Development Program. Previously, he was at the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Asia Program; he served as senior research fellow at the National Institute for Defense Studies (NIDS), Ministry of Defense and assistant counsellor at the Cabinet Secretariat for Security and Crisis Management of the Government of Japan. A specialist in Japanese security and foreign policy as well as security issues on the Korean Peninsula, his works include North Korea’s Military-Diplomatic Campaigns, 1966-2008 (Routledge, 2009). He is fluent in Japanese and Korean.

Hiromi Murakami is a visiting scholar at GRIPS and senior fellow at Economic Strategy Institute. She’s involved in various policy projects in US/Japanese institutions, including Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Global Health Policy Center, the Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI), and SAIS Johns Hopkins University. Prior to joining CSIS, she led Asia research as a vice president at the Economic Strategy Institute in Washington, D.C., and taught courses at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington. She holds an M.B.A. from St. Mary’s College and a Ph.D. in international relations from Johns Hopkins SAIS.

Past Speakers