role: Senior Advisors

TANIGUCHI, Tomohiko is a Specially Appointed Professor at the University of Tsukuba and a special advisor to the Fujitsu Future Studies Center.

He served as a Special Advisor to ABE, Shinzo’s Cabinet from April 2013 until Mr. Abe stepped down as Prime Minister on September 16, 2020. Between February 2013 and March 2014, he was a Councillor, Cabinet Secretariat.

After working for the Japanese business weekly magazine Nikkei Business for about 20 years, he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2005 and became Deputy Press Secretary and Deputy Secretary-General for Public Diplomacy. He also drafted numerous foreign policy speeches for then-Foreign Minister ASO, Taro and then-Prime Minister Abe until he left the ministry three years later.

From 1997 to 2000, while working for Nikkei Business magazine, he lived in London as the magazine’s sole correspondent covering European business and economies, and in 1999 Foreign Press Association in London elected him President, first from “the East of Suez.” He has also spent sabbaticals during his journalistic career, first at the then Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University as a Fulbright visiting fellow, at the Shanghai Institute of International Studies as a visiting fellow, and also at the Brookings Institution as a CNAPS Fellow.

From August 2008 to January 2013, he served as a full-time Executive Advisor to Central Japan Railway Company (JR Tokai), working for then-Chairman KASAI, Yoshiyuki (who has since passed away), while also serving as a special guest professor at Keio University’s Graduate School of System Design and Management (SDM) and as a visiting professor at Meiji University’s School of Global Japanese Studies. He earned a tenure position as a full-time professor at Keio SDM, April 2014, while continuing to serve Prime Minister Abe as his primary foreign policy speech writer. He terminated his tenure, having reached the mandatory retirement age, March 2023. In addition to the positions mentioned at the outset, he is currently a Visiting Professor at Takushoku University’s Institute of World Studies and a Senior Fellow at the GRIPS Alliance of the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies.

He holds an LL.B. in Law from the University of Tokyo, a Ph.D. in National Security from Takushoku University, and has authored or co-authored more than 10 books on international affairs. One of his most recent books is “Prime Minister Abe’s Speeches,” and he has appeared live numerous times on the BBC, Al Jazeera English, CNN, CNA, TRT, and the like.

Dr. William Schneider, Jr. is a senior fellow of the Hudson Institute.  Dr. Schneider served as Under Secretary of State for Security Assistance, Science, and Technology.  He previously served as Associate Director for National Security and International Affairs at the Office of Management and Budget prior to be nominated as Under Secretary by President Ronald Reagan.

In addition, Dr. Schneider serves as an advisor to the U.S. Government in several capacities. He is currently an advisor to the Departments of Defense, Energy, and State as well as the intelligence community.  As a U.S. Senate appointee, Dr. Schneider recently served as a member of the Congressional Advisory Panel on the Governance of the Nuclear Security Enterprise.  He served as Chairman of the Defense Science Board (DSB) from 2001 to 2009 and currently serves as a member of the DSB.  Secretary of Defense Robert Gates awarded Dr. Schneider the DoD’s Medal for Distinguished Public Service in November 2009.  In 2018, Secretary of Defense James Mattis conferred the Fubini Award on Dr. Schneider for his “exemplary scientific and technical contributions” to the DoD mission. He also served on several commissions to review intelligence-related activities, including the “Rumsfeld Commission” (i.e., the Commission to Assess the Ballistic Mission Threat to the United States) on current and emerging ballistic missile threats to the United States as well as on a National Reconnaissance Office, and the Intelligence Community Strategic Studies Group under the Director of National Intelligence.  Dr. Schneider was the founder and former Chairman of the Department of State’s Defense Trade Advisory Group (1992-2018).  Previously, he served as Chairman of the General Advisory Committee on Arms Control and Disarmament from 1987 until 1993.  He serves as a member of the Board of Visitors of the University of Rochester Laboratory for Laser Energetics.  Dr. Schneider was nominated by the President and in August 2019 was confirmed by the US Senate to serve as a Member of the National Council of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Dr. Schneider’s responsibilities at the Department of State included management of U.S. foreign economic and military assistance abroad, export control policy (including serving as Chairman of the Senior Interagency Group on the Transfer of Strategic Technology), international telecommunications and information policy (including serving as Chairman of the Senior Interagency Group on International Telecommunications and Information Policy), and supervision of U.S. science attaches posted at U.S. embassies.

Dr. Schneider is an economist and defense analyst who formerly was a staff associate of the Subcommittees on Defense and Foreign Operations for the Committee on Appropriations of the U.S. House of Representatives as well as a consultant to the Hudson Institute.  Prior to joining the House staff, he was a Senate staff member and professional staff member of the Hudson Institute.

Dr. Schneider received his Ph.D. from New York University in 1968.  He is a member of the American Economic Association, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Robert D. Eldridge, Ph.D. serves as an advisor to numerous regional organizations on matters of international security, development, trade, alliance management, disaster response, international education, and human rights, and has been affiliated with several think tanks, including the Asia-Pacific Alliance for Disaster Management, Nakasone Peace Research Institute, Japan Forum for Strategic Studies, Japan International Security Forum, Japan Institute of International Affairs, and Hosei University’s Institute of Okinawan Studies, all in Tokyo, and Okinawa International University’s Institute of Law and Politics.

In October 2017, he was named Policy Advisor and International Exchange Ambassador for Taka Town, Hyogo Prefecture, where he first served as an Assistant English Teacher on the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program(me) from 1990-1992. In April 2023, he joined the boards of RITA Gakuen (a high school dedicated to service before self), Animal Refuge Kansai, Japan-Taiwan Friendship Cultural Association, and the Kansai Forum for Japan-U.S. Intellectual Exchange, where he serves as Vice President.

A native of the United States, Dr. Eldridge earned his Ph.D. in Political Science from Kobe University in 1999 and taught International Public Policy at Osaka University’s School of International Public Policy from 2001 to 2009, with a focus on international security and bilateral disaster response. He then joined the U.S. Department of Defense as the Deputy Assistant Chief of Staff, Marine Corps Bases Japan, and served in that capacity until 2015, where he implemented alternative approaches to community relations, public diplomacy, and alliance management based on transparency, dialogue, and proactive outreach.

During that time, he served as the political advisor for the forward-deployed command of U.S. Forces Japan after the March 2011 disaster and launched the Disaster Cooperation Program to build cooperative relations between local communities and the U.S. Marine Corps in preparation for the next major disaster. Upon leaving DOD, he established his own institute and consulting firm, and continues to assist the stricken area as the founder of the Oshima Children’s Fund and Shorai Foundation. In 2021, he co-founded Diplomatic Support Services, Inc., which advises foreign embassies in Japan.

He often speaks at international academic conferences and Track II meetings, as well as a guest commentator on television and radio. He writes regular columns in The Japan Times, Japan Forward, Gendai Business, Sekai Nippo, and several monthly journals. Dr. Eldridge has won numerous awards for his public service and writings, including the prestigious Suntory Academic Award (2003), Prime Minister Nakasone Yasuhiro Award (2012), and Ohira Masayoshi Award (2016).

He is the author of dozens of books and hundreds of articles and op-eds on U.S.-Japan relations, Okinawa, and Japanese politics, including The Origins of the Bilateral Okinawa Problems: Okinawa in Postwar U.S.-Japan Relations, 1945-1952 (Routledge, 2001), Secret Talks Between Tokyo and Washington: The Memoirs of Miyazawa Kiichi, 1949-1954 (Lexington, 2007, translation), Japanese Public Opinion and the War on Terrorism (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008, co-edited with Paul Midford), An Inoffensive Rearmament: The Making of the Postwar Japanese Army (Naval Institute Press, 2013, edited memoirs of Colonel Kowalski), Japan’s Backroom Politics: Factions in a Multiparty Age (Lexington, 2013, trans.), The Diplomatic History of Postwar Japan (Routledge, 2010, trans.), The Origins of U.S. Policy in the East China Sea Islands Dispute: Okinawa’s Reversion and the Senkaku Islands (Routledge, 2014), Megaquake (Potomac, 2015, trans.), The Prime Ministers of Postwar Japan: Their Lives and Times (Lexington, 2016, trans.), The Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force: Search for Legitimacy (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017, co-edited with Paul Midford), Operation Tomodachi (Reed International, 2017), Changing Security Policies in Postwar Japan: The Political Biography of Sakata Michita (Lexington, 2017, trans.), The Japan Self-Defense Forces Law (Cambridge Scholars, 2019), Okinawa and the U.S. Marine Corps, An “Alliance Asset,” and Okinawa’s Media and the Media’s Okinawa (all from Reed International in 2019), Japan’s Military Power (Cambridge Scholars, 2020, trans.), Japan as an Immigration Nation (Lexington, 2020, trans), and The Meiji Japanese Who Made Modern Taiwan (Lexington, 2022, trans). He is currently writing books on regional development in Japan, youth engagement, and countryside wisdom.

Dr. Eldridge and his family reside in Hyogo Prefecture, where he recently co-founded the study group, “Power Up in Kawanishi in the Morning,” at a café run by those with special needs, at which he also established a Japanese and English language bookstore. When he is not walking with his dog, Beau, or visiting with his nearby in-laws, he can be reached at robert@reedintl.com.

An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, the Defence Services Staff College, the Naval War College, and the National Defence College, with BSc, MSc and MPhil degrees under his belt, Vice Admiral Pradeep Chauhan, AVSM & Bar, VSM, is currently the Director-General of the National Maritime Foundation, New Delhi, which is India’s foremost resource centre for the development and advocacy of strategies for the promotion and protection of India’s maritime interests.   

The admiral retired on 30 November 2013 after an illustrious four-decade-long career in the Executive Branch of the Indian Navy.  He has had a rich and varied naval career, which included a three-year deputation to the Government of Mauritius, where he set up and commanded the Mauritius National Coast Guard.  He has been the principal evaluator of the Navy’s battle-tactics, the Head of the Naval Training Team at the Defence Services Staff College, and the Principal Director of Naval Operations.  

His sea-going service incorporates command-appointments on four occasions, including the guided-missile frigate, INS Brahmaputra, and, culminating in his command of the aircraft carrier, the Viraat.  As a Flag Officer, he was the Navy’s first Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff (Foreign Cooperation & Intelligence), where he conceptualised and executed the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS).  

As a Vice Admiral, he has been Chief of Staff of the Western Naval Command; and was, in his last naval appointment before retirement, the Commandant of the Indian Naval Academy (Ezhimala).  He has been commended three times by the President of India for sustained distinguished service. 

Admiral Chauhan has remained active after retirement and is a much sought-after thought-leader, leadership mentor, and an outstanding orator.  Apart from being on the visiting faculty of the higher-command establishments of all three of India’s defence services, as also tri-service establishments such as the College of Defence Management, Hyderabad and the National Defence College, New Delhi, he has also been advising the government through his interaction with the Integrated Headquarters of the Ministry of Defence (Navy), the Ministry of External Affairs, the National Security Council Secretariat, and the Joint Intelligence Committee.  

He is, in addition, a prolific writer with over 85 published professional articles and papers, and, a respected Adviser and Fellow of several important think-tanks including the Ananta-Aspen Centre; the Forum for Strategic and Security Studies; and, the Centre for Advanced Strategic and Security Studies.

Nobukatsu Kanehara served at the highest levels in the Government of Japan, where he was recognized as a leading diplomat and strategic voice on international affairs. He offers nuanced insights into Japanese national security priorities, as well as domestic political and policy dynamics.

Kanehara is a Senior Advisor to The Asia Group, based in Japan. Most recently, he served as Assistant Chief Cabinet Secretary to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe from 2012 to 2019. In 2013, Mr. Kanehara also became the inaugural Deputy Secretary-General of the National Security Secretariat, a role which he held until his retirement from government service in 2019. He also served as Deputy Director of the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office.

Mr. Kanehara’s role in the Cabinet built on a distinguished career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he served in a number of notable positions. These included the Director-General of Bureau of International Law, Deputy Director-General of the Foreign Policy Bureau, Ambassador in charge of the United Nations and Human Rights, Deputy Director-General of European Affairs in charge of Russia and Eastern Europe, Director of the Ministry’s Policy Coordination Division, the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty Division. He served abroad as Deputy Chief of Mission in Seoul, Republic of Korea, Minister at the Embassy of Japan in Washington, the United States and Minister of the Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations.

Born in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Mr. Kanehara entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs following his graduation from the University of Tokyo’s Faculty of Law in 1981. Early during his career at the Ministry, he studied at the École Nationale d’Administration in France. He is the author of Senryaku Gaiko Genron: A Grand Strategy of Japan for the 21st Century (2011, Nihon-keizai-shinbumsha). He contributed an article titled “The power of Japan and its grand strategy” to Japan’s World Power  edited by Professor Guibourg Delamotte (2019, Routledge). He currently teaches at Doshisha University’s Faculty of Law as professor and has previously taught at the Faculty of Law and the Graduate School of Law at Waseda University. He is proficient in French, as well as Japanese and English. He was decorated by the president of Republic of France with Ordre de la Legion d’Honneur.