Visiting Fellow Nobukatsu Kanehara

Nobukatsu Kanehara is a professor in Doshisha University's Department of Political Science. He served as assistant chief cabinet secretary to Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe from 2012 to 2019. In 2013, 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. 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, including as director-general of the Bureau of International Law; deputy director-general of the Foreign Policy Bureau, and ambassador-in-charge of the United Nations and human rights. Kanehara served abroad as deputy chief of mission in Seoul, Republic of Korea and political minister at the Embassy of Japan in Washington. He was decorated by the President of France with l’Ordre de la Légion d’Honneur. This academic year, Kanehara will also be a Japan Foundation Visiting Fellow at the Center for East Asian Studies.