Akiko Yamanaka

Special Advisor to the President - ERIA – Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia

Prof. Yamanaka serves as President of International Tsunami Disaster Prevention Society, Senior Diplomatic Fellow at Cambridge Central Asia Forum Cambridge University, Special Advisor to the President of the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA), Senior Visiting Fellow at the Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA). She served as Former Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs and Special Ambassador for Peacebuilding as well as Special Ambassador for the World Tsunami Awareness Day of Japanese Government. She served as Member of the Diet of Japan. She has been active in both academia and the political arena. She was awarded OISCA Award (for Contributions to Asia) and the International Soroptimist Japan’s Sen Kayoko Prize (for Contributions to International Understanding).