Katsuhiro Asagiri, Vice President, Asia-Pacific
Affairs
Katsuhiro Asagiri is President of
IPS Japan, Vice President of Global
Cooperation Council for Asian-Pacific Affairs and
Bureau Chief of IDN-InDepthNews
Asia-Pacific. Born in
Okayama in 1965, Asagiri is a Japanese citizen.
History, Geography and Political Science make up his
educational background (B.A. in Education, from Okayama
National University, Japan, B.S. in Geography and Master's
degree in Development Administration
(MDA)
from Western Michigan University, the U.S.A. From 1986-87 he
worked in Kibbutz Megiddo, Israel while conducting
researches on history and international relations in Europe
and the Middle East.
From 1991-92 he lectured on Japanese History, US-Japan
relationship and role of media at WMU while serving as a
graduate assistant for Dr. Lawrence Ziring at the Institute
of Government and Politics, conducting researches on human
right issues in the Dominican Republic with a renowned
Geographer
Dr. Oscar H. Horst. Their research article was
published in Geographical Review, NY, 2000:
www.jstor.org/pss/3250857).
Back to Japan in 1992, he was appointed as a staff writer
and editor for a monthly development magazine with APIC. He
wrote and coordinated many articles and reports on ODA, CSOs,
and development related issues commissioned by MOFA and
private foundations. His publications include “The Mechanism
of Accepting Economic Assistance by foreign NGOs (Nepal,
Bhutan, India, Bangladesh)” (1997) , “The Economic and
Social Conditions of the Dominican Republic” (1997),
“Present condition and the problem on STD infection
surrounding youth in Asia (Nepal, Bangladesh, and Greater
Mekong Region)” (2000, 2001), “The Odyssey of Japanese
Colonists in the Dominican Republic” (2000).
He planned and coordinated many international conferences in
Japan, the U.S.A , and Asian countries for high level policy
dialogues including the Asia-Pacific Symposium in Hawaii in
January 2000 making it the first joint symposium by
government (ODA policy dialogues), corporations and
foundations as well as CSOs from Japan and the U.S.A. From
1999-2001, he served as a general coordinator for CART
(Common Agenda Roundtable), a government consultative body,
presided over by Mr. Gaishi Hiraiwa, the honorary
chairperson of Keidanren(Federation of Economic
Organizations) and contributed to promoting public-private
partnership by bridging CART with Japanese CSOs and its US
counterparts through managing several joint development
projects.
During this period, as a head of Research Office at APIC, he
subcontracted with IPS for ODA research projects on HIV/AIDS
and human trafficking in several Asian countries. From
2002-2004, he served as Deputy Secretary General of WYPS
Japan office to organize a series of international symposia
with themes on interfaith dialogues in Bangkok, Tokyo and
Bosnia and Herzegovina. In this period, he made ground works
to launch IPS Japan through dialogues with IPS Rome.
(obtaining legal status from Tokyo Metropolitan Government
in May 2003, launching IPS Japan website in April 2005).
Since 2004, he has been a member of
Ozaki Yukio Memorial Foundation's
Seikei Konwa-kai (The Ozaki Public Policy Study meeting
where senior policy makers, royal family members and opinion
leaders are invited to give off-the-record lectures on
latest trends in politics, economics and social issues.) He
has participated in IPS Support meetings in 2003, 2005 and
2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 and has hosted IPS executives in
Japan in 2005, 2006, and 2008. He led the first Japanese
media delegation to Afghanistan media forum in March 2007.
He was elected as President of IPS Japan at a general
assembly meeting in August 2007. In September 2008, he was
appointed as Japan representative for the
World Political Forum (WPF), an
initiative founded by Mikhail Gorbachev. In 2010, he was
appointed as vice president of
Global Cooperation Council for Asia-Pacific Affairs and Bureau
Chief of IDN-InDepthNews
Asia-Pacific
