Kazuhiko Takeuchi

President, IGES

Kazuhiko TAKEUCHI graduated from the Department of Geography, the University of Tokyo in 1974. He obtained M.Agr. and Ph.D. from the Graduate School of Agriculture, the University of Tokyo. He served as a Professor at the Asian Natural Environmental Science Center, and as Professor at the Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Science at the University of Tokyo from 1997 to 2012. He also served as a Vice-Rector and Senior Vice-Rector at the United Nations University from 2008 to 2016.
From 2016, he has served as a Senior Visiting Professor at United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS). He was Director and Professor/Project Professor of IR3S at the University of Tokyo from 2017 to 2019. He has served as President, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) since July 2017. He took up the position as Project Professor of the Institute for Future Initiatives (IFI) at the University of Tokyo in April 2019. He has served, inter alia, as Chair of the Central Environmental Council, Government of Japan, Editor-in-Chief of the journal Sustainability Science (Springer Nature) and Distinguished Chair, Wangari Maathai Institute for Peace and Environmental Studies, University of Nairobi.
He specialises in landscape ecology, landscape planning, and sustainability science.

KOIZUMI Shinjiro

Minister of the Environment of Japan

Minister of the Environment, Minister of State for Nuclear Emergency Preparedness, Japan, Member of the House of Representatives (elected four times from Kanagawa 11th district).

Born on April 14, 1981 in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture. After graduating from Kanto Gakuin University, enrolled in Columbia University, United States and received Master of Arts in Political Science. He started his career at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) as a research associate, and was elected and has been a member of the House of Representatives since 2009. He has held a succession of positions including Director of the Youth Division of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP); Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Cabinet Office / Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Reconstruction; Director of Agriculture and Forestry Division, LDP; and Director of Health, Labor and Welfare Division, LDP. He was appointed as Minister of the Environment in September 2019, and re-appointed as Minister of the Environment in September 2020.

Yuji Kuroiwa

Governor, Kanagawa Prefectural Government

Graduating from Waseda University, Mr. Kuroiwa entered Fuji Television Network, Inc. In 1988, he took the position of newscaster of evening news program “FNN Super Time” and then “Hodo 2001”.

In 2009, Mr. Kuroiwa changed his career to a professor at International University of Health and Welfare Graduate School.

In April 2011, Mr. Kuroiwa was inaugurated as Governor of Kanagawa Prefecture under the banner of “Magnetic Kanagawa, a prefecture for vibrant lives”. With an aim to further develop the magnetic prefecture and create a community filled with laughter, where people can live a healthy and happy life to 100 years old and beyond, Mr. Kuroiwa took office in April 2019 for the third term.