Shinichi Kitaoka

Shinichi Kitaoka
北岡伸一
President of the International University of Japan
In office
2012  present
Preceded by Masakatsu Mori
Personal details
Born April 20, 1948
Yoshino, Nara, Japan

Shinichi Kitaoka (b. April 20, 1948, 北岡伸一 Kitaoka Shin'ichi) is president of International University of Japan, a professor at Japan's GRIPS-Tokyo School of Security and International Studies and the former Japanese ambassador to the United Nations.

Early life

Kitaoka received his Ph.D. from the University of Tokyo in 1976.

Career

Kitaoka took a lecturership at Rikkyo University; he became a full professor there in 1985. In 1997, he moved to his current position at the University of Tokyo.

In 2004, he was appointed as Japan's ambassador and deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, a position he held until 2006 when he returned to academia.[1][2][3]

In 2006-2010, Kitaoka was the Japanese chair of the Japan-China Joint History Research Committee. Among other topics, the committee investigated the Nanking Massacre.[4] From 2009-2010, he chaired a Ministry of Foreign Affairs committee on the so-called Secret Agreements between the U.S. and Japan on the introduction of nuclear weapons into Japanese territory.

Kitaoka currently is the Deputy Chairman of the Advisory Panel on Reconstruction of the Legal Basis for Security, an advisory panel to Prime Minister Abe on the possibility of re-interpreting constitutional provisions to allow for collective self-defense.

References

  1. Biography of Kitaoka, White Rose East Asia Center.
  2. Japan Names Tokyo Univ. Prof. Kitaoka as U.N. Amb., Jiji Press, April 2, 2004
  3. Permanent mission of Japan to the United Nations: About us http://web.archive.org/web/20110606115828/http://www.un.int/japan/aboutus/kitaoka.htm, retrieved August 18, 2008.
  4. Leow, Jason (August 3, 2007), "Nanking efforts examine massacre, seek healing", Wall Street Journal

External links