Research Theme :
International Politics in the Major Countries of East Asia

TANAKA Akihiko is Professor of International Politics at the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia (IASA), the University of Tokyo. He served as President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) from 2012 to 2015. Professor Tanaka's specialties include theories of international politics, contemporary international relations in East Asia, and Japan’s foreign policy. He obtained his B.A. in International Relations at the University of Tokyo's College of Arts and Sciences in 1977 and his Ph.D. in Political Science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1981. After returning to Japan, he became a researcher at the Research Institute for Peace and Security. In 1983, he became Research Associate at the College of Arts and Sciences, the University of Tokyo, and was named Associate Professor in 1984. In 1990 he moved to the Institute of Oriental Culture (previous name of IASA) and was Associate Professor there until 1998 when he became Professor. He was Director of the Institute of Oriental Culture in 2002-2006, Executive Vice President of the University of Tokyo in 2009-2011, and Vice President there in 2011-2012. He was also Visiting Professor at Ruhr University, Bochum, Germany, in 1986, and a Senior Associate Member at St Antony's College, Oxford, from 1994 to 1995. Professor Tanaka received the medal of honor with purple ribbon (shiju hosho) for his academic achievements in 2012. He has numerous books and articles in Japanese and English including The New Middle Ages: The World System in the 21st Century (Tokyo: The International House of Japan, 2002).