Akio Takahara is Senior Adjunct Fellow and Councillor of the Japan Institute of International Affairs and Emeritus Professor of The University of Tokyo. He currently serves also as Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Tokyo Woman’s Christian University and Trustee of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, among other positions. His expertise is in contemporary China’s politics and diplomacy. He received his DPhil in 1988 from Sussex University. Before joining The University of Tokyo, he taught at J. F. Oberlin University and Rikkyo University. Akio had visiting appointments at the Consulate-General of Japan in Hong Kong, the Japanese Embassy in Beijing, Harvard University, Peking University, the Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS), and the Australian National University. He served as President of the Japan Association for Asian Studies, Secretary General of the New Japan-China Friendship 21st Century Committee, Dean of the Graduate School of Public Policy at The University of Tokyo, and Director of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Ogata Sadako Research Institute for Peace and Development. His publications in English include The Politics of Wage Policy in Post-Revolutionary China, and Japan-China Relations in the Modern Era (co-authored). He is currently involved in a research project that looks into how smaller countries proactively interact with China.