About the Speaker

Professor Hideshi Tokuchi joined the Defense Agency (the predecessor of the Ministry of Defense) of Japan in 1979 and served as the nation’s first-ever Vice-Minister of Defense for International Affairs from 2014 to 2015 after completing several senior assignments including the Director-General of Defense Policy Bureau, of Budget and Equipment Bureau, of Personnel and Education Bureau, and of Operations Bureau.

He has been the President of the Research Institute for Peace and Security (RIPS) since June 2021. He teaches international security studies as a visiting professor at National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS).

He earned his Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Tokyo in 1979, and his Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy (M.A.L.D.) degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in 1986.

His recent articles include: “The revision of Japan’s National Security Strategy – A new opportunity for enhanced Japan-Europe security cooperation,” The European – Security and Defence Union, Issue 44, November 2022, pp. 12-13; “Toward a New Blueprint for Japanese Security,” nippon.com, October 17, 2022; “EU-Japan security cooperation in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” The European – Security and Defence Union, Issue 42, May 2022, pp. 22-23; and “The Gray Zone in the Definition of Gray-Zone Warfare: Challenges for Japan-U.S. Cooperation,” Johnathan Greenert ed., Murky Waters in the East China Sea: Chinese Gray-Zone Operations and U.S.-Japan Alliance Coordination, NBR Special Report No. 90, May 2021.