Dean's Message

Training Students for Careers in Public Policy
Dean

Akira Morita
A declining birthrate, an aging population, the IT
revolution and globalization -- these are just some ofthe drastic changes currently facing Japan. During
the 60 years after World War II, the systems that once
contributed to Japan’s growth have become worn out.
Now is the time for us to search for new formulas for
our future development.
In times like this, what are needed most are policy
professionals with the public’s best interests in mind,
with outstanding abilities to create a peaceful and secure society for our country and all humanity. The
abilities sought today include appropriately recognizing and confronting issues and creating and implementing solutions which will actually trans-form oursociety in a better direction. In other words, it is nothing less than the ability to analyze, form-ulate andevaluate “public policy.”
So far, personnel with these abilities have received
on-the-job-training as public officials hired after university graduation. The training systems, however,seem to have reached their limits. This is because
public issues are currently of major interest not only
to the public sector but also to private corporations.
Under increasing globalization, professionals in the
not-for-profit sectors, different than those in govern-ment, are gradually playing more important roles.
The Graduate School of Public Policy, (GraSPP) of
the University of Tokyo was established in April
2004, in order to meet the demands of this new age.
GraSPP is designed to transform students into the
public policy experts sought by modern society. For
this purpose, GraSPP focuses not only on educationin the basic theories of law, politics and economics,
which are indispensable for analyzing, formulatingand evaluating public policies; but also on trainingthat will equip tomorrow’s public servants with thecommunication and negotiation skills necessary toconfront the challenges in the real world.
We also conduct classes consisting mainlyof discussions between
instructors and a small
number of students.
We are confident thealumni of GraSPP will
become active leadersin various fields of society, both at home
and abroad.

Message from Outside the University

The Importance of International Communication
President, The Institute for International Monetary Affairs
Member of the Advisory Board, GraSPP, University of Tokyo

Toyoo Gyohten
From my long experience
with international finance, I
have always felt that Japanesecollege education lacks thetraining in the ability toformulate and express one’s
opinions in the international
realm.
As Europe continues tointegrate, and Asia, including China, increases its
economic links with the rest of the world, frameworks
and policies in the economic and financial fields,
including corporate governance, accounting, andauditing standards, are already being established.
Instead of being established by each country, theseframeworks are created through international “soft law”
formation processes.
These soft laws are usually formulated throughcommunication at various formal and informal

gatherings; and, as a result of a shared, common
awareness of the issues, they are frankly andsometimes fiercely debated. However, if we look at theJapanese government’s and business world’s handlingof issues in the past, we can see that they had hardly
expressed their opinions fully at these sessions, andonly after the contents of the matters were alreadysettled did they complain of the results.
This is not necessarily a language problem. Rather,it’s a problem of their ability to identify their own aims
and plan their strategies and tactics accordingly.
From these perspectives, I deeply sympathize withGraSPP’s curriculum that focuses on fostering
effective communication skills. While this is a newchallenge that may not be easy to achieve, I happily
anticipate the emergence of the new GraSPP-nurtured
professionals who, through proactive exchanges of
opinions with people from different backgrounds, will
formulate soft laws and policies for the next generation.

GraSPP Master of Public Policy
Master of Public Policy will be granted upon completion of
46 educational credits in a minimum of two years. GraSPP admits about 100 students per year and has four sub-specializations: Law Policy, Public Management, International Public
Policy and Economic Policy. We conduct a comprehensive ad-

missions exam, consisting of a written application, an English
test (TOEFL), a written exam and an interview. Consideration
is given for recruiting international students and people in business. Special admission is also granted to third- year undergraduate students.

Educational Programs
GraSPP is designed to educate students to identify appropriately problems faced by modern society, take measures
to evaluate those problems, and communicate them to the
public in order to reach a consensus. Specifically, we are
fostering experts who, supported by strong, professional ethics, manifest the following abilities:

ies.
3 The Ability to Make Policy■
The ability to translate a proposed solution into an actual
policy and then implement it. Our programs provide students with a legal framework for designing and operating asystem, and a political framework for understanding the social procedures necessary to bring that system to fruition.

1 The Ability to Identify Existing and Emerging Problems■

The ability to properly detect existing and emerging problems in our modern society and economy. Our programs
provide students not only with knowledge in each policy
field but also with the ability to find and recognize problems through exposure to real-life situations.
2 The Ability to Propose Solutions■

The ability to develop many options to current problems
and select the best one amongst them. In addition to studying existing policy measures, in order to judge their applicability to other fields and to enhance the imagination forfinding new solutions, our students study a broad area ofknowledge, from applied economics to real-life case stud-

4 An International Perspective■

The ability to understand different cultures and societies
from diverse perspectives. The boundaries between domestic and international policies are becoming increasingly
complex and unclear. Our programs provide students withthe means to go beyond stereotyped understandings of culture by analyzing the results of local area studies.
5 Communication Skills■

The ability to communicate effectively by exchanging
opinions with people at home and abroad in order to understand them or convince them of one’s own ideas. Our programs equip students with internationally viable tools and aCurriculum Composition
First, our curriculum balances the following three disciplines: law relating to the design and operation of systems, politics concerning the dynamics of how to run systems, and economics in order to formulate and evaluate
proposed policies.
Second, we provide case studies dealing with specific policies as part of our core curriculum. Case methods are
adopted so that students can apply the knowledge they
have learned, create original and imaginative viewpoints,
and improve their communication skills.
Third, through close collaboration with policy situations,our curriculum provides students with the opportunity toobtain professional feedback from policy-makers. Instructors with extensive practical experience teach courses
closely related to real-life situations. We actively holdseminars and workshops by inviting professional lawmakers as lecturers.
Fourth, our curriculum is designed for students to improve their communication skills while also acquiringknowledge. For this purpose, we emphasize oral presentations and writing policy papers. In addition, we give special credit units to those who submit a research paper orthesis and pass the oral examinations.

In the Classroom

Course Composition
Legal Policy Division

Public Management Division

To learn and balance legal theory andpractice in public administration
through the acquisition of effective, practical,
and high-level legal skills

To develop public management skills
from political and public administration perspectives

This curriculum develops law-making experts withthe knowledge and planning skills to find and analyze
solutions to various socioeconomic issues from a legal perspective.
Under increasingly complicated socioeconomic situations, problems not fully considered in con-ventional legal systems are emerging as major challenges.
They include risk management, deve-loping a societal internet infrastructure, and crime prevention andcountermeasures. Moreover, issues are not only becoming more complex but also urgently require solutions. In order for government to address these issues,sophisticated legal skills that analyze problems fromvarious perspectives, develop well-balanced solutions
amid contradicting values and translate them into legislation are needed more than ever before. Sophisticated legal ability is increasingly required for public officials and is indispensible for NPOs and corporate
practices.

This curriculum trains students to analyze public
policy issues and formulate them from political andadministrative perspectives. The program qualifies
graduates for positions requiring the ability to operate organizations and manage policies.
Lawmaking, and enforcing and evaluating policies
are essential to an organization. To make effective
policy, it is necessary to manage multi-faceted organizations appropriately and reform the mana-gement
style itself, according to the situation. Reforms including the establishment of independent administrative institutions and the privatization of the postal
system indicate that organizational forms and business management styles are critical even in public
institutions. While public servants have play-ed major roles in giving advice on these policies, fromnow on organizational control and adminis-tration
will also play important roles. These trends are common among NPOs, other public organiz-ations, andnational and local public servants.

The Legal Policy Division strongly emphasizes nurturing professionals who will formulate and manage
the legal system as an accumulation of policy in linewith socioeconomic development, instead of lawyers
who resolve conflicts within the framework of existing legal systems. We develop three main skills: identifying issues in actual administration from legal perspectives, finding practical solutions and finalizingthem into legislation, and communicating the settled
disputes to a socio-economy of conflicting values.

The Public Management Division develops experts
who will appropriately manage organizational activities from policymaking to implementation and evaluation and have the public managerial capab-ilities
necessary for responding to socioeconomic changes.
We foster the ability to identify issues in actual administration situations to create plans for organi-zations to thrive in the future, build and manage system tools to address selected issues, commun-icate
effectively, and build a consensus among multiple
parties.

Our curriculum develops experts who will und-erstand legal systems related to various administr-ative
areas, acquire law-making techniques, and acc-umulate experience in making balanced legal deci-sionsin administration fields through specific case studies.
Faculty members include world-class researcherswith numerous publications and experience in lawmaking, and instructors with exten-sive experience inadminist-rative law practice.
Through face-to-face interactions with such faculty members, stude-nts learn both administr-ative legal theory andpractice.

Our curriculum trains students to understand various theories and systems related to public policy, toconstruct and control new public management systems, and to find issues and build measures for themthrough specific examples.
Faculty members include world-class researcherswith numerous publications and extensive experience in system-building, andpracti-tioners with valuableadmin-istrative work experience. GraSPP students
learn both public management
the-ory and practice.

International Public Policy Division

Economic Policy Division

To foster the ability to formulate policies on
and address international issues such as global warming and BSE (mad cow disease)To acquire world-class knowledge and skills
for utilizing economic analysis in the public
policy field

This curriculum offers students knowledge, planning and negotiation skills for addressing international policy issues such as foreign affairs and development aid. The program qualifies graduates for
positions requiring skills and depth in international
policy areas- including, for example, effective communication. With ongoing globali-zation, there exists an imminent need to address even domestic policies from international perspec-tives. For example,
international issues like global warming and BSE influence domestic policies significantly. On the other
hand, an increasing number of issues needs politicalcoordination that transcends national boundaries. Issues such as post-war state reconstruction after civil
war and nuclear arms control are conducted throughthe coordination of multiple countries. Moreover, international institutions are becoming the main actors
in handling many global issues.

Our curriculum provides students with the knowledge and analytical skills necessary for analyzing
and evaluating public policy alternatives from an
economics perspective.
As evidenced by the large number of government
officials with advanced degrees in economics, it is
now common throughout the world for sophisticatedeconomic analysis to play an important role in shaping public policy. This phenomenon has expanded
into areas once considered unrelated to economics,
such as labor, the environment, public welfare andmedicine.

By focusing on formulating policies and dealing
with these international issues, the International Public Policy Division develops three abilities: identifying issues in real international situations and finding
concrete solutions, understanding a variety of cultures in international contexts, and interacting withpeople from different cultural backgrounds to build
up the necessary consensus. Our curriculum allows
students to understand each region’s issues by studying its politico-economic situation, construct measures to solve issues based upon its international context, and further grasp the issues’ context throughspecific case of international conflict.

Faculty members include world-class researcherswith numerous publications and administrators withexstensive experience in international institutions.
Through interactive dialogue with our faculty, students will learn the reality of international issues
and ways to handle them.

The objective of the Economic Policy Division isto produce professionals that use economic analysis
in real-world policy making processes.
We develop three main abilities: analyzing andevaluating policies by using economics in actual policy planning; understanding the problem and developing a method of solution; and commu-nicating
policy proposals to stakeholders logically and effectively.
Three main features of our curriculum are: teaching the basic theories of microeconomics and macroeconomics by using real-world applications; using
econometrics and cost-benefit analytical tools forquantitative evaluation; and applying economic analysis to specific policy issues through case studies
based on examples from the real world. Our program is conducted bilingually in Japanese and English. Some courses are conducted only in English.
Other courses taught in Japanese make extensive
use of English-language materials.

Our faculty members in economics have played an
important role in formulating actual policy while
producing world-class research. Most have extensive experience teach-ing inuniversities abroad or
working in interna-tionalorganizations.

Students’ opinions
Concerning Classes

Studying as a Professional

Law Policy Division

Public Policy Management Division

Takatsugu Tsukada

Naoko Kurita

In a word, classes
are like a full-course
Chinese dinner or aworld of creative cuisine. Our classes cover law, politics, economics and domestic and internat-ional issues in the forms
of seminars, reports
and discussions, direct interviews with politicians, and actual
negotiation simulation games. I attended a seminar where every student played a role as an actor involved in policies andalso had a discussion that reflected opposing policy viewpoints. A wide variety of students including adults and thosewith science backgrounds allows for richer discussions. Often instructors with practical experience show remarkableviewpoints. We have close relationships with our instructors,
who respect our individuality and creativity. As GraSPP is
still a newly established graduate school, students’ needs areusually fully considered. GraSPP also offers an attractive environment where we can apply our own awareness of issues
to policies that need to be addressed.

After being a national public servant for more than
10 years, I entered
GraSPP to study
areas related to
my work systematically. As oneof the first students of GraSPP, beginning with preparing for the entrance exam, I was sometimes overwhelmed. In some classes, we had interactive exchanges between instructors and students. The class style isto be conducted for meeting the students’ needs. GraSPP offers a wide variety of courses that cover students’ interests.
We also have opportunities to talk with many professionals
both within and outside the university. Although my firstyear here is different from what I had imagined, throughthings like class discussions, it has become a good turning
point for me to reconsider public policies from a wider perspective than just that of a public servant. For the second
year of my master’s course, I will commit myself further tomy research interests and towards solidifying the relationship between theory and practice.

My Future and Career

Student LifeInternational Public Policy Division

Economic Policy Division

Naofumi Nishigori

Mai Seki

When I entered GraSPP ayear ago, I had no clear image about my future. I entered GraSPP to find a job
where I could fully use what
I have studied and acquire expertise for that purpose.
After spending a year at GraSPP, I haven’t changed mymind. I fully understand, however, how difficult it is to comprehend what others think and communicate my thoughts toothers accurately through discussions with people from diverse backgrounds in all my different classes. At the sametime, in classes conducted by actual policy-makers, I havelearned that with whom and when we should have negotiations is as important as the negotiation’s contents in influencing the results. I have also recognized the importance of communication and negotiation skills. Consequently, I havedecided to become a professional who can communicate research results in my area of specialty to the non-academic
world.
I, therefore, will seek a job in maritime affairs, which is related to my specialty and needs to be addressed promptly
both from the practice and research fields. Amid the current
international situation, I hope to improve Japan’s presence asa seafaring nation.

During the school term, besides spending time in class anddoing homework, I had a part-time job as a Teaching Assistant and was part of the Student Association of Public Policy
Studies (SAPPS), a student-run study group. During the summer, I worked at the Asia-Pacific Region Office of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and tried a variety of activities throughout the year. Generally, my first year of themaster’s course has been fruitful, in linking theory and practice. My public policy seminar, in particular, provided opportunities to hear practitioners’ honest opinions of working in
the field. The GraSPP faculty gave professional advice on establishing SAPPS and inviting actual policy-makers as lecturers. I appreciate the faculty and office staff for addressing
students’ individuality and enthusiasm flexi-bly. GraSPP’s
highacademic
standa-rds, its environm-ent wherestudents can utilize their unique capacities, and its
broad net-works
of inform-ationand people set it
apart.

International Exchanges and Public Policy Seminars
The Graduate School of Public Policy (GraSPP) of the make plans to realize closer exchanges.
University of Tokyo is committed to promoting internaTo expose students directly to politicians, administrators
tional exchanges with other public policy graduate and local governments heads, we have held Public Policy
schools and to holding seminars and symposiums by invit- Seminars co-organized by The University of Tokyo’s 21sting overseas professors, researchers and policymakers in Century Center of Excellence (COE) Program, entitledlaw, economics, and international relations.
“The Creation of Policy Systems in Advanced Countries,”
In 2004, we received visits by, among others, professor and “Policy and Mass Media” presented at the Graduate
Lisa Anderson, Dean of Columbia University’s School of School of Law and Politics, University of Tokyo (sponsInternational and Public Affairs (SIPA); Mr. Phillipe Baste- ored by the Asahi Shimbun) (See below).
lica, International Relations Director of ENA; and Mr.
We also hold “Kasumigaseki Relay Special Lectures”
Francis Verillaud, Vice Dean of Sciences Po Paris. Our and “Seminars for Female Students Aspiring to Bestaff visited overseas graduate schools including Har- come Official Public Servants.” Finally, the Student
vard’s Kennedy School of Government and the Lee Kuan Association of Public Policy Studies (SAPPS)
Yew School of Public Policy. We also held a GraSPP Mini <http://www5d.biglobe.ne.jp/~academic/> allows students
Conference entitled “Japanese Policy Issues and Resolu- to exchange opinions on specific topics with young admintions.”In the medium run, we will consider mutu-ally istrators in government ministries, local government emtransfering credits for students at other institutions and ployees and other professionals once or twice a month.

Public Policy Seminars held in 2004
Lecturers

Themes

Katsuya Okada (President of the Democratic Party of Japan)

The Future of Japanese Politics and the Mission of the Democratic Party of Japan

Hitoshi Tanaka (Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs)

Japanese Foreign Affairs

James T. Morris (Executive Director, The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP))The WFP and Japan’s Partnership in Humanitarian Aid

Fumio Kyuma (Chairman, General Council of Liberal Democratic Party of Japan)

The Politics of Liberal Democratic Party

Akiko Domoto (Governor of Chiba Prefecture)

Decentralization and Regional Democracy

Gong Ro-myung (Chairman of Asahi Shimbun Asia Network, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Korea)

Japan’s Relations with North and South Korea in Northeast Asia

Soichiro Tahara (Journalist)

My Experiences with Post-World War II Politics

Yoichi Funabashi (Columnist of the Asahi Shimbun)

How to Understand the Changing World

Yoshihiro Katayama (Governor of Tottori Prefecture)

Does Local Government Work?

Atsuko Kikuchi (Deputy Director General for Examination, Bureau of Human Resources, National Personnel Authority)
Mihoko Tamamura (Director of WFP Office in Japan)

Making the Most of the Studies Learned about Public Policy for

Ryuko Fujii (Member of the Advisory Board,GraSPP, University of Tokyo･One’s Future Career

Guest Professor,Graduate School of Law,Osaka University)

Profile of GraSPP Students
Breakdown of the students admitted in 2004
Admission Type
Division
GeneralLaw Policy
18（Male 13 Female 5）
Public Management 13（Male 7 Female 6）
International Students
International Public Policy 42（Male 20 Female 22）
Business
Economic Policy
36（Male 30 Female6） Students in the 3rd year of university
Total

86
6
17
0

109（Male 70 Female 39）

Breakdown of the students admitted in 2005
Division
Admission Type
GeneralLaw Policy
19（Male 17 Female 2）
International Students
Public Management 16（Male 13 Female 3）
Business
International Public Policy 44（Male 24 Female 20）
Economic Policy
35（Male 27 Female8） Students in the 3rd year of university
Total

92
9
12
1

114（Male 81 Female 33）

Future Alumni Careers
Future alumni careers include national and local public servants; think-tank researchers; and positions in government-related corporations (Bank of Japan,etc.), international institutions and private corporations.

In the Classroom

Graduate School of Public Policy
The University of Tokyo
7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033 JapanT e l
8 1−3−5 8 4 1−1 3 4 9
F a x
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h t t p : / / w w w . p p . u− t o k y o . a c . j p /May 2005