HIDESHI TOKUCHI

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 a visiting fellow of the Sophia Institute of International Relations (SIIR) since November 2015. Also, he has been the President of an independent think-tank called 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). His academic focus is on the Japan-US Alliance, maritime security, and defense-related legal affairs.

He earned his Bachelor of Law 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 in English include “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; “Preparing for Taiwan contingencies,” The European – Security and Defence Union, Issue 41, February 2022, pp. 26-27; 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, pp. 1-10, https://www.nbr.org/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/publications/sr90_murkywaters_may2021.pdf.