International Symposium
on “Japan and the Jews — Looking at the Past, Present, and Future”

Mieko Nakabayashi, Ph.D.

Dr. Nakabayashi earned her Ph.D. in International Public Policy from the Graduate School of International Public Policy at Osaka University, and an M.A. in Political Science from Washington State University. After obtaining U.S. permanent residency in 1992, she was formally appointed as a professional staff member of the U.S. Senate Budget Committee, where she served for approximately ten years. Following fourteen years in the United States, she returned to Japan in 2002. Since then, she has held academic and government posts, including university faculty positions, membership on national advisory councils, and service as a Member of the House of Representatives (2009–2012). She currently serves as Professor at Waseda University. Her publications include Understanding America Today Reveals Japan and the World: Signs of a Great Global Transformation (Tokyo Shoseki, 2025), among many others.

TBD

High-level Official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (TBD)

Rabbi Andrew Scheer

Rabbi Andrew Scheer was born and raised in New York where he earned his BA in Jewish History from New York University. Between college and seminary, he taught English in the Japanese countryside and Hebrew School at the Jewish Community of Japan. While studying at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School, Andrew was a Wexner Graduate Fellow. Andrew served in the United States Army Reserve for five years where he was assigned to the United States Military Academy at West Point. Following ordination, Andrew worked on Rikers Island as a Jewish Chaplain with the New York City Department of Correction and at VA New York Harbor Healthcare System.

Meron Medzini, Ph.D.

Born in Jerusalem in 1932, after military service he studied in the United States. He holds a BA from City University of New York, MA from Georgetown University and Ph.D. from Harvard in East Asian Languages and Civilizations. His mentor was Professor Edwin O. Reichauer. He later served as Director of Israel Government Press Office and spokesman for Israeli Prime Ministers Eshkol, Golda Meir and Yitzhak Rabin. For many years he taught at the Hebrew University courses on modern Japanese History and Israel's Foreign Policy. He is the author of Japan and the Jews during the Holocaust Era (2015), Japan, the Jews and Israel (2024), Golda -a Political Biography (2017). In 2010 he won the Israel Prime Minister's Prize for his book on Golda Meir. In 2016 he was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun for his contribution to promoting Japan-Israel relations.

Kunio Ishida, Ph.D.

Joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1972, where he undertook studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Served three postings at the Embassy of Japan in Israel. In Tokyo, served as the Middle East Regional Coordinator as well as the Policy Planning Coordinator in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Former Director of the Diplomatic Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Beyond his diplomatic career, Dr. Ishida has been a Visiting Professor at Nanzan University and Lecturer at Waseda University. He was a keynote speaker at a symposium organized by the Truman Institute for Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He earned his M.A. degree in 2002, and his Ph.D. in 2010, both from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Naoki Maruyama, LL.D.

Born in Nagano Prefecture in 1942, is a distinguished Professor Emeritus at Meiji Gakuin University, holding an LL.D. from Hitotsubashi University. His extensive academic career includes serving as Associate Professor at Otaru University of Commerce (1975-1983), Professor at the International University of Japan (1983-1991), and Professor at Meiji Gakuin University (1991-2010).
Dr. Maruyama's research primarily focuses on the Jewish communities in America, Jewish refugees during the Pacific War, and the Holocaust's impact on America. He has authored several influential books in Japanese, including "The Jewish Communities in America" (1990), "The Pacific War and the Jewish Refugees in Shanghai" (2004), and "Holocaust and America" (2018). His significant English articles delve into topics such as Japan's response to the Zionist movement, its Middle Eastern policy dilemmas, and its Jewish policy in the late 1930s, contributing to a global understanding of these complex historical and political dynamics.

Nissim Otmazgin, Ph.D.

Prof. Nissim Otmazgin is a Full Professor at the Department of Asian Studies and currently the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Before that, he was the Chair of the Institute for Asian and African Studies, the Director of the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace, and the Chair of the Department of Asian Studies. He was also a member of the Israeli Young Academy of Science and Humanities.
Otmazgin's research interests include Japanese media industries, Japan-Southeast Asian Relations, and cultural diplomacy in East Asia. His PhD dissertation (Kyoto University, 2007), which examines the export of Japan’s popular culture to Asia, won the Iue Asia Pacific Research Prize in October 2007 for outstanding dissertation on society and culture in Asia.
The author and co-editor of 8 books on contemporary culture and society in Asia and tens of articles in international academic journals.

Ambassador Yusuke Arai

Born on January 17, 1967, graduated from the University of Tokyo, Faculty of Economics, in March 1990, and subsequently joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in April 1990.
Throughout his distinguished career, Mr. Arai has held various key positions. Early in his career, he served as Senior Coordinator in the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty Division within the North American Affairs Bureau. His international postings include roles as Counsellor at the Embassy of Japan in Korea and Minister at the Embassy of Japan in Singapore, where he gained extensive diplomatic experience.
Domestically, Mr. Arai has been instrumental in shaping Japan's foreign policy, serving as Director of the Public Diplomacy Strategy Division (Minister's Secretariat) and Director of the National Security Policy Division (Foreign Policy Bureau). His expertise in intelligence became particularly prominent with his appointments as Director-General, of the Intelligence and Analysis Service. In April 2024, he was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Israel, continuing his dedicated service to international relations.

Noburu Okabe

Noburu Okabe is a Senior Advisor at the Tokyo Foundation, a Visiting Editorial Writer for The Sankei Shimbun, and a Visiting Professor at Reitaku University. After graduating from Rikkyo University, he studied at Duke University and Columbia University’s East Asian Institute. During his distinguished career at The Sankei Shimbun, he served as Bureau Chief in both Moscow and London, covering major international developments and diplomatic affairs.
He received the 22nd Yamamoto Shichihei Award for his acclaimed book The Missing Yalta Secret Telegram, recognized for its in-depth analysis of wartime intelligence and diplomacy. His research and publications focus on the history of intelligence, Japan’s wartime diplomacy, and Japan–Europe relations, contributing to a deeper understanding of Japan’s strategic and historical role in global affairs.

TBD

Ambassador Ryuta Mizuuchi

Ryuta Mizuuchi, born in Tokyo in 1959, started his career in diplomatic service in 1983 after graduating from Kyoto University's Faculty of Law. He served various posts such as Director of First Analysis Division, Intelligence and Analysis Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Director General of Analysis Department of the Cabinet Secretariat’s Satellite Intelligence Center, etc.
His overseas roles include serving as Consul General in Düsseldorf, Ambassador to Zambia, and Ambassador to Austria and Kosovo. While stationed in Israel (2004-2007), he had exchanges with Mr. Teddy Kaufman (son of Dr. Abraham Kaufman who was the leader of the Jewish community in Harbin) and descendants of refugees who traveled the "Higuchi Route."
Ambassador Mizuuchi also presented his research on Chiune Sugihara and Kiichiro Higuchi at the Hebrew University and the University of Vienna.
His current role is Senior Advisor to the Japan-Austrian Association and Member of the Board of the Japan-Austrian Cultural Association.

Ryuichi Higuchi, Ph.D.

Professor emeritus at Meiji Gakuin University. Born in April 1946 in Tokyo. Graduated from the Faculty of Letters, Keio University, and studied in West Germany on government scholarship and received Doctor of Philosophy (musicology) from the University of Tübingen. Editer of "New Bach Complete Works" and acting choirmaster of the Church of the Virgin Mary in Stuttgart. After returning to Japan, he worked as a musicologist and conductor. Vice-president of the International Music Society from 2012 to 2017. Kyoto Music Prize Research Criticism Award, Tsuji Shoichi Award, Theodor Berchem Award (Germany), Austrian Academic and Artistic Achievement Cross. Artistic director and conductor of Meiji Gakuin Bach Academy. Chairman of the Japan Alban Berg Society, chairman of the Ongaku Mita-kai, and representative director of the Kiichiro Higuchi Memorial Foundation. Author and translator of many books, including “Bach'' and “Study of Bach Cantatas”. Many CDs include Bach's "St. Matthew Passion" and Mozart's "Requiem." He worked to publish his grandfather's posthumous manuscripts, including “Legendary Instructions of Lieutenant General Kiichiro Higuchi“.

Robert D. Eldridge, Ph.D.

Robert D. Eldridge, Ph.D., is an award-winning author, scholar, and former public official who currently serves an advisor to numerous regional and domestic organizations, including the Honoring General Higuchi Foundation, and as a visiting researcher at numerous universities and institutes, such as the Japan Institute of International Affairs and Hokkaido University’s Nitobe College. He earned his doctorate at Kobe University’s School of Law in 1999 was a tenured associate professor at the Graduate School of International Public Policy, Osaka University prior to serving as the Deputy Assistant Chief of Staff, Government and External Affairs, Marine Corps Forces Japan. He is the author, contributor, editor, and translator of approximately 150 books about U.S.-Japan relations, disaster preparedness, regional development, and international education, writes regular columns for Japan-based newspapers and magazines, and appears weekly on tv and radio. He lives in Kansai, where he heads his own think tank (www.robertdeldridge.com), and has been in Japan for more than 35 years, having initially come on the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program after studying in Paris and Washington, D.C., and graduating from Lynchburg College in Virginia.

Dr. Masaaki Shiraishi

Deputy Director, Diplomatic Archives of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan

Pamela Rotner Sakamoto, Ph.D.

Pamela Rotner Sakamoto, Ph.D. is the author of Japanese Diplomats and Jewish Refugees: A World War II Dilemma (Bloomsbury, 1998). Fluent in Japanese, Dr. Sakamoto lived in Kyoto and Tokyo for seventeen years. She worked offsite as an expert consultant on Japan-related projects for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum for more than twenty years. Her most recent book concerning Japan is Midnight in Broad Daylight: A Japanese American Family Caught Between Two Worlds (HarperCollins, 2016), which has been translated as黒い雨に撃たれて、二巻　(慶應義塾大学出版会、2020).
Since moving to Hawaii in 2007, Dr. Sakamoto has taught history in the University of Hawaiʻi System, and, for the past decade, she has been on the Social Studies faculty at Punahou School in Honolulu. She presently teaches and coordinates the Davis Democracy Initiative, one of the first major civic programs nationwide for young students, ranging from kindergarten through the twelfth grade. Dr. Sakamoto graduated from Amherst College and received her doctorate in International Relations from The Fletcher School at Tufts University.

Edward N. Luttwak, Ph.D.

Dr. Luttwak was born on November 4, 1942, in Arad, Transylvania, Romania. He is a distinguished strategic advisor and author. He received his education in Palermo, Sicily, Carmel College in England, and the University of London (London School of Economics), earning a BSc in 1964. Following infantry training with the British Army, he served as a war volunteer and strategic analyst in Israel from 1967 to 1972. He later pursued advanced studies at Johns Hopkins University, where he earned his PhD in 1975, writing his dissertation on "The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire." In 1977, he became a US citizen by an Act of Congress.
Currently, Dr. Luttwak serves as a contractual strategic advisor to the US Government. His extensive advisory experience includes working with US Presidential transition teams, testifying before committees of the US House of Representatives and the US Senate, and consulting for various US agencies such as the Department of Defense, Army, Navy, Air Force, and a White House Chief of Staff. He has also advised two European governments and the Government of Japan.
A prolific author, his works include "The Rise of China viz. The logic of Strategy" and "Strategy: the Logic of War and Peace" (both from Harvard University Press), alongside nine other books published in 27 languages, including Japanese. His profound insights into military strategy, geopolitics, and international relations have influenced policymakers and scholars worldwide.

Atsushi Sunami, Ph.D.

Atsushi Sunami is President of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation. He is also President of Showa University of Music, President of Deloitte Tohmatsu Strategy Institute, Adjunct Professor and Special Advisor to the President at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS), and Guest Professor at the Research Organization for Nano & Life Innovation at Waseda University. His areas of expertise include international relations and public policy, particularly science, technology, and innovation policy.
He previously served as Advisor to the Cabinet Office and currently holds several key positions including Chairperson of the Okinawa Development Council, Acting Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson of the Japanese National Commission for UNESCO, Member of the Economic Security Legislation Council, and Member of the Basic Policy Group under the Committee on National Space Policy.
He also serves as Co-Chair of the Japan National Decade Committee for Ocean Science, Co-Chair of the NIKKEI Blue Ocean Forum Advisory Committee, Program Officer of the Space Strategy Fund at JAXA, Chairperson of the Consortium for Satellite Earth Observation at JAXA, and Co-Chair of the Lunar Industry Vision Council.
He earned his BSFS from Georgetown University and MIA and Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University.