Akio TАKAHARA is a distinguished visiting professor at Tokyo Woman’s Christian
University. He was a professor of Contemporary Chinese Politics at the Graduate
School for Law and Politics at the University of Tokyo. He served as dean of the
Graduate School of Public Policy from 2018 to 2020. He also serves as Senior
Research Advisor at the JICA Ogata Sadako Research Institute for Peace and
Development.

He received his DPhil in 1988 and later spent several years as Visiting Scholar at the
Consulate-General of Japan in Hong Kong (1989–91), the Japanese Embassy in
Beijing (1996–98), the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research, Harvard University
(2005–06), the School of International Studies, Peking University (2014–15) and at
the Mercator Institute for China Studies (2016). Before joining the University of
Tokyo, he taught at J. F. Oberlin University (1991–95) and Rikkyo University
(1995–2005). He also served as Programme Officer of the Sasakawa Peace
Foundation (1988–89), Member of the Governing Body of the Institute of
Development Studies, UK (1999–2003), President of the Japan Association for Asian
Studies (2009–11), and Secretary General of the New Japan-China Friendship 21st
Century Committee (2009–14).

He is a Senior Fellow of the Tokyo Foundation for Policy Research, a Senior Adjunct
Fellow of the Japan Institute of International Affairs, and a Distinguished Research
Fellow of the Japan Forum on International Relations. Professor Takahara is also a
member of the International Scientific Council at MERICS.