WAKAMIYA, Yoshibumi

Education & Employment

Born in 1948, graduated from Tokyo University, he joined The Asahi Shimbun in 1970, and has observed Japanese politics and diplomacy for a long time. He had been chairman of editorial board since 2002 until 2008. During this period he lead the editorials that strongly opposed the Iraq War or prime minister's visit to Yasukuni Shirine, and published the inside story of such days as "Tatakau Shasetsu" (Battles of Editorials.) last fall. He became a columnist for the Asahi and a guest professor at the University of Tokyo in April 2008.

In 1982, he studied Korean at Yonsei University in Seoul, and in 2001, he experienced 9/11 in the United States while a guest scholar at The Brookings Institution. He is a member of the "Japan-Korea Forum" and "Tokyo-Beijing Forum."

Research Fields

• Political Journalism
• Japanese politics and diplomacy after WWII
• Japan's nationalism and reconciliation with Asian countries

Major Publications

His major publications include English edition of "The Postwar Conservative View of Asia." (LTCB International Library, 1999) as well as Chinese and Korean edition of "Reconciliation and Nationalism." (2007)

His monthly column "Fukoukei" is translated into English as "Japan Notebook" for the Herald Tbribune Asahi.