About the Tokyo Conference
The Tokyo Conference is a high-level conference launched by The Genron NPO in 2017 with the cooperation of the world' top think tanks, including the CFR and the Chatham House. Amid growing global fragmentation and unilateralism, the conference seeks to reinvigorate multilateral cooperation and a rules-based international order. Each year, heads of state-level speakers, leaders of major think tanks and experts gather in Tokyo to engage in discussions and develop proposals, which are then disseminated widely to the international community. It has also become a venue for Japan's Prime Minister and Cabinet ministers to demonstrate the country's diplomatic policies. The conference has increasingly gained recognition as a vital platform for a key intellectual hub and global outreach, with over 100 media outlets covering the event annually. The Chief Advisor of its Advisory Council by former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, with 13 distinguished members from business and governmental sectors.
Partner thinktanks
Host organization
Leading thinktanks from G7 countries and four emerging economies have participated in the Tokyo Conference since its establishment.
Partner thinktanks
Advisory Council
The Advisory Council helps to advance the high quality of the conference and develop supporting network by advising strategic planning and operations. 13 distinguished individuals, mainly Japan's top business executives, have joined the Advisory Council.
Chief Advisor
Fumio Kishida Former Prime Minister
Members
Toshiaki Higashihara Representative Executive Officer, Executive Chairman & CEO and Director, Hitachi, Ltd
Takeshi Kunibe Chairman of the Board, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group
Kanetsugu Mike Member of the Board of Directors and Chairman, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc.
Yoriko Kawaguchi Former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of the Environment
Toshiro Muto Former Deputy Governor, Bank of Japan
Masakazu Kubota President of Federation of Economic Organizations; Keidanren
Masayuki Hyodo Chairman of the Board of Directors, Sumitomo Corporation
Fumiya Kokubu Director, Member of the Board and Executive Corporate Advisor, Marubeni Corporation
Hiroshi Shimizu Chairman of Nippon Life Insurance Company
Noriyuki Hara Representative Director, President & CEO, MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings, Inc.
Ichiro Fujisaki Former Ambassador to the USA
Shigeaki Okamoto Former Vice Minister of the Ministry of Finance
Tatsuo Tanaka Japan Chair, Apollo Global Management, Inc.
The Tokyo Conference
Speakers
Lectures by more than 100 leaders, minister-level officials, and experts from international organizations in 50 countries
The Tokyo Conference aims to deepen discussions on pressing global challenges and make future-oriented proposals to the world. It is the country's only intellectual platform that focuses on fostering multilateral cooperation and the resolution of specific issues together with top thinktank leaders and influential high-level speakers.
The Tokyo Conference has welcomed more than 100 speakers from roughly 50 countries, including representatives from think tanks, head-of-state and minister-level leaders, senior officials of international institutions, including the United Nations and specialized agencies of the United Nations, influential experts in various fields. The Tokyo Conference is the only forum in Japan that brings together such a high-level group of global leaders.
An international conference
for the world's intellectual community
The Tokyo Conference has come to be recognized by the world's think tanks as one of the more important conferences in the international epistemic community, in line with such events as January's Raisina Dialogue (India) and World Economic Forum (Switzerland), and February's Munich Security Conference (Germany). The Tokyo Conference has received high praise for being a Japan-based international forum both open to the public and providing concrete proposals based on the discussions held, and we have managed to build a strong network and cooperative relationship with famous conferences and the thinktanks that host and participate in them, including the Munich Security Conference, the Shangri-La Conference, the World Policy Conference (France), Paris Peace Conference (France), and the London Conference (hosted by the UK's Chatham House).
The Tokyo Conference
Speakers from Japanese Government
Leaders and senior officials from the Japanese government join discussions on imminent global challenges
Former Japanese Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, has been appointed Chief Adviser this year, and he has delivered keynote speeches at many Tokyo Conference events every year. Sitting Prime Minister, Shigeru Ishiba has participated in several occasions so far.Other Japanese government officials who have participated as speakers include Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Ken Saito and Yasutoshi Nishimura, Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare Katsunobu Kato, Minister of Defense Itsunori Onodera, and Minister for Economic Revitalization Akira Amari, all of whom used the Tokyo Conference as a platform to explain the Japanese government's perspective of international issues and the efforts they are taking, deepen discussions and send a strong message to the rest of the world about the importance to protect the global free order, multilateralism and liberal democracy.