NEWSLETTERGraSPP Public Policy Talk Series
Professor Yasutora Watanabe

We started the GraSPP Public Policy Talk series from this year
for the purpose of increasing the reach of GraSPP to potential
applicants, mainly targeting professionals and undergraduate
students in Japan. As GraSPP has been actively arranging
recruitment events for potential applicants outside Japan, we
have pushed the effort locally as well so that we can reach out
to a more diverse set of students who might not be interested in
GraSPP otherwise. We have held three talks so far. The first talk“Careers in Public Policy” had three panelists: Ms. Kishitani(worked for NGOs, UNICEF, WHO, and currently works for Z
Holdings Corporation), Ms. Matsuda (ex-bureaucrat andcurrently the Manager of Public Policy at Amazon Japan), and
Ms. Ogasawara (worked for JBIC, JICA, Bain, and currently
works for Social Innovation and Investment Foundation). The
composition of the panel reflects the trend that an increasing
number of positions in the private sector are available forcareers in public policy. The panelists discussed their work,
their passion, and their career choices, including work-lifebalance and life-changing decisions they made, sometimes
covering more private topics.
The second event, held in August, was the Intellectual
Dialogue among the deans of GraSPP, Peking University’s
School of International Studies, and Seoul National’s School ofInternational Studies, co-hosted by the CAMPUS Asia Program.

The deans shared each country’s experiences of COVID-19,
especially regarding the use of big data for government policy
making and the reversal of globalization.
The third event, held in September, titled “Central Bank
Economists” featured 5 professors teaching at GraSPP who are
ex-central bankers: Prof. Aoki (former economist at Bank ofEngland), Prof. Kitao (former senior economist at Federal
Reserve Bank of New York), Prof. Kato (former division chief at
Bank of Japan), Prof. Nakata (former principal economist at theFederal Reserve Board), and Prof. Wakamori (former senioreconomist at Bank of Canada). The professors discussed therelationship between policy work and research at central banks
and how they may differ across central banks, with many
behind-the-scenes stories only available to those who worked
in those institutions.
We are planning to develop the series by combining two
types of events: recruiting events in Japanese to attract local
students who may be interested in GraSPP (with the first event
planned for February 2021) and the GraSPP Public Policy Talk
series to cultivate a broader set of potential applicants who
might be interested in the topics of public policy more broadly.
We hope that the name “GraSPP” will spread across thecountry and entice future public policy makers to this school.

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC POLICY, THE UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO

December. 10, 2020東京大学公共政策大学院

ts
en1: AY2020 GraSPP Autumn Diploma Presentation Ceremony
t
n

o

C

60

vol.

2: “GraSPP Alumni & Student Day 2020” Event Report / “Discover GraSPP”—A new approach to overseas recruitment
in partnership with the alumni and partner organizations
3: Introducing GraSPP’s first PhD holder!~4: GraSPP Public Policy Talk Series / TOPICS

AY2020 GraSPP Autumn Diploma Presentation
Ceremony
In order to prevent spreading the Coronavirus, the ceremony
was conducted on a smaller scale and the diploma was presented
by Professors of the Graduate School of Public Policy andcongratulated for their completion of the program together withGraSPP staff.
The commendation ceremony for high-achieving graduates
was also held. The Best Performance Award was presented to one
student in PhD program and one in Master program respectively.

Hiroshi Ohashi, Dean (Graduate School of Public Policy)

1st Public Policy Talk

TOPICS

2nd Public Policy Talk

3rd Public Policy Talk

- The first recruitment of the 2021 PhD program. The application period is from November 20th toDecember 18th, 2020. Please check the following website for details.

My reﬂection of GraSPP and Tokyo- Under recruitment of students for the 2021 MPP / IP course. Please check the followinse for details.

Tw o y e a r s a t G r a S P P i s a n
unforgettable memory for me. The
program is well organized withdiverse students from different places
around the world. Professors andfaculty members are friendly andhelpful. I came to know various
people from different backgrounds. I
made friends who always supported
and encouraged me. I do feel weenjoyed our campus life together. In away, GraSPP teaches one how to be an independent person. Looking
back, what reminds me of GraSPP are the vending machines where
I could enjoy a cup of coffee and relax. My life in Tokyo was quite
special. Of course, living in a foreign country, just like many otherforeign students, I went through both good and bad experiences.
Although life is not always as I wish, living in Tokyo brought me joy,

http://www.pp.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/education/doctoral-course/
http://www.pp.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/mppip/

Editor’ s Postscript
The theme of the “Davos Conference”, the annual meeting of the World
Economic Forum next year, has been decided to be “Great Reset”.
Leaders and managers from around the world will discuss the review ofthe global economic and social system for an after-corona society.
Review is a necessary act in various situations. The days are difficult topredict, but I would like to make appropriate reviews and changes fromtime to time. (Editor)

4

The GraSPP Autumn diploma presentation ceremony AY2020
took place on September 18 at SMBC Academia Hall in theInternational Academic Research Building. 59 students wereconferred the diploma this September.

NEWS
60 LETTER

vol.

(Editor & Publisher) Graduate School of Public Policy, The University of Tokyo(Date of Publication) December 10, 2020

7-3-1, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033 Japan
E-mail grasppnl@pp.u-tokyo.ac.jp
http://www.pp.u-tokyo.ac.jp/

Sa Kimleng (Cambodia) Class of 2020, MPP/IP

peace, and happiness. Japanis a very beautiful country
with many places to visit.
Maybe I did not travel asmuch as my friends, but I
did experience the culture
and nature in Japan tosome extent. Taking thisopportunity, I would like toexpress my sincere gratitude
to my research supervisor,
professors at GraSPP, faculty
members, and friends that
helped me a lot during mytime in Tokyo.

1Introducing GraSPP’s first PhD holder!
On October 17, t he
“GraSPP A lumn i &St udent Day 2020 ”
was held online, withp a r t ic i p a t ion f r om
about 70 a lum n i,current students andfaculty members.
At t he f irst ta l ksession, Prof. Kiichi Fujiwara and Prof. Akio Takahara made apresentation about “International Political Situation under
COVID-19 and US-China relations” under the moderation ofProf. Jun Arima. There were active questions and commentsfrom the alumni and students.
The next alumni panel discussion had four panelists, Ms.
Faelasufa (MPPIP ‘16), Mr. Sakthishwarran Kalasegaran(MPP/IP ‘16), Ms. Miyuki Tsuru (CAMPUS Asia ‘18) and Ms.
Yuuki Nakao (MPP/IP ‘20), with Mr. Sandeep Rajgopal(MPP/IP ‘15) as the moderator.
The panelists talked about their individual experiences attheir workplaces under the COVID-19 and provided advice on
how to cope with this unique sitation.
The event concluded w ith a chat session, where theparticipants were divided to groups of graduation years followedby mixed groups in a joyful and relaxed atmosphere.

Mr. Sandeep Rajgopal
The GraSPP Alumni & Student Day 2020 was a grandiose
success with the online format facilitating the participation ofalumni and students from more than a dozen countries aroundthe world. A notable highlight was the chat session after the very
interesting panel discussions, as they not only included
fascinating discourses on current affairs, but also brought
together alumni who hadn’t seen each other in years. It is fittingthat GraSPP, as an innovative and interdisciplinary school of
public policy, capitalized on the current situation around theworld by adapting and providing a unique experience.

Message from Graduate Representative—A new approach to overseas recruitment in partnershipwith the alumni and partner organizations
GraSPP shifted swiftly to offer online education in thewake of the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure continuous
learning opportunities for our students. Since the global
fight against the pandemic continues, we were not able todeliver our message in person to aspiring current andfuture public policy professionals at information sessions
nor to enjoy reunion with our alumni. Despite such a
constraint, however, we organized our annual recruitment
activities in a virtual setting with the support of our alumni
communities and long-standing partner organizations
abroad. We have had seven online information sessions
titled “Discover GraSPP” targeting prospective applicants
to our Master of Public Policy, International Program(MPP/ IP) in v ar ious coun tr ies and r egions. P anel
discussion sessions led by our alumni with some current
students provided not only an opportunity to share theirexperience at GraSPP with the audience, but also served
as a forum to discuss “Public Policy Challenges beyond the
COVID-19 Pandemic.” Professors Takahara, Nishizawa,
Aoki, Nakata and Kucheryavy helped deliver our messages
effectively to a large number of prospective applicants too ur M P P/ IP a n d d e e p e n i n t e r n a t i o n a l e x c h a n g e s
successfully among the participants. (Nobue Nachi and
Sachiko Suzuki)

2

On September 18, two doctoral students (2016 enrollment,
Hay Chanthol, 2017 enrollment Quentin Verspieren) wereawarded doctoral degrees (public policy). The titles of thepapers are posted on the WEB page(http://www.pp.u-tokyo.ac.jp/news/2020-10-02-27032/).
This time, we received comments from Quentin Verspieren,
who has excellent grades, and Professor Shiroyama, who isan academic advisor.

Quentin Verspieren
The GraSPP doctoral program has been a turning point in mylife, allowing me to bridge my initial expertise in sciences andengineering with my desire to pursue a career in space policy.
Rather than seeing it as an obstacle, my non-traditional
background was always considered valuable by GraSPP faculty
members. In parallel, participating in the Global Leader Programfor Social Design and Management (GSDM) helped me develop
a strong multidisciplinary mindset and to further develop thenecessary links between academic research and concrete social
issues.
The value given by GraSPP to practical experience has been
extremely valuable in my case. While I always strived foracademic excellence, I felt the need to stay grounded, inconnection with the ‘real’ world: civil society, government,
industry, etc. My field, space policy, is very pragmatic. Its
countless constraints– including physical ones, do not tolerate
the ravings of disconnected scholars. I therefore chose,

August 6
Nepal
August 22
Indonesia
August 25
Myanmar
September 13 India
September 26 Philippines
October 24
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Uzbekistan
October 31
East and Southeast Asia

w i th the s trong suppor t of my PhD super v isor s,
Professor Shiroyama and Professor Heng, to continue
to be involved in numerous side projects related togover nment al af f air s, diplomac y and even spaceengineering. This was a true luxur y that ver y few
doctoral programs would allow.
Having finally received my doctorate, I was fortunate to beoffered a research position at the Science, Technology, andInnovation Governance (STIG) of GraSPP, where I work onouter space sustainability, the military uses of space, space
diplomacy, etc. At the STIG program, I can find the rightbalance between my love for academia and my need to workon concrete policy or industrial issues. On the one hand, I am
part of ambitious studies for various Japanese governmental
agencies (e.g. MOFA, MEXT) and on the other hand I was
kindly asked to contribute to five courses offered in GraSPP
as guest lecturer or mentor. I am truly honored by theconfidence of the professors having invited me.
Finally, I would like to give a modest advice to future
generations of GraSPP doctoral candidates: do not restrict
yourself to your main research topic! You should try as
much as possible to discover different fields, even if they
seem at first disconnected from your main interest. It isonly through a wide, interdisciplinary perspective that you
will be able to acquire a critical view of your domain, and todevelop truly innovative ideas and concepts. GraSPP, theUniversity of Tokyo and GSDM have the resources to help
you discover numerous issues beyond your traditional
scope: use them!

Message by Professor
Hideaki Shiroyama
Congratulation for Dr. Verspieren who wrote PhD.
dissertation which is the insightful analysis of space traffic
management from political science perspective. The
dissertation also includes policy relevant recommendations
on the future form for space traffic management. He had
space engineering background at master level andcombined the engineering knowledge and the public policy
knowledge in effective way. He also finished Global Leader
Program for Social Design and Management.

Professor Shiroyama and Quentin Verspieren.

3Introducing GraSPP’s first PhD holder!
On October 17, t he
“GraSPP A lumn i &St udent Day 2020 ”
was held online, withp a r t ic i p a t ion f r om
about 70 a lum n i,current students andfaculty members.
At t he f irst ta l ksession, Prof. Kiichi Fujiwara and Prof. Akio Takahara made apresentation about “International Political Situation under
COVID-19 and US-China relations” under the moderation ofProf. Jun Arima. There were active questions and commentsfrom the alumni and students.
The next alumni panel discussion had four panelists, Ms.
Faelasufa (MPPIP ‘16), Mr. Sakthishwarran Kalasegaran(MPP/IP ‘16), Ms. Miyuki Tsuru (CAMPUS Asia ‘18) and Ms.
Yuuki Nakao (MPP/IP ‘20), with Mr. Sandeep Rajgopal(MPP/IP ‘15) as the moderator.
The panelists talked about their individual experiences attheir workplaces under the COVID-19 and provided advice on
how to cope with this unique sitation.
The event concluded w ith a chat session, where theparticipants were divided to groups of graduation years followedby mixed groups in a joyful and relaxed atmosphere.

Mr. Sandeep Rajgopal
The GraSPP Alumni & Student Day 2020 was a grandiose
success with the online format facilitating the participation ofalumni and students from more than a dozen countries aroundthe world. A notable highlight was the chat session after the very
interesting panel discussions, as they not only included
fascinating discourses on current affairs, but also brought
together alumni who hadn’t seen each other in years. It is fittingthat GraSPP, as an innovative and interdisciplinary school of
public policy, capitalized on the current situation around theworld by adapting and providing a unique experience.

Message from Graduate Representative—A new approach to overseas recruitment in partnershipwith the alumni and partner organizations
GraSPP shifted swiftly to offer online education in thewake of the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure continuous
learning opportunities for our students. Since the global
fight against the pandemic continues, we were not able todeliver our message in person to aspiring current andfuture public policy professionals at information sessions
nor to enjoy reunion with our alumni. Despite such a
constraint, however, we organized our annual recruitment
activities in a virtual setting with the support of our alumni
communities and long-standing partner organizations
abroad. We have had seven online information sessions
titled “Discover GraSPP” targeting prospective applicants
to our Master of Public Policy, International Program(MPP/ IP) in v ar ious coun tr ies and r egions. P anel
discussion sessions led by our alumni with some current
students provided not only an opportunity to share theirexperience at GraSPP with the audience, but also served
as a forum to discuss “Public Policy Challenges beyond the
COVID-19 Pandemic.” Professors Takahara, Nishizawa,
Aoki, Nakata and Kucheryavy helped deliver our messages
effectively to a large number of prospective applicants too ur M P P/ IP a n d d e e p e n i n t e r n a t i o n a l e x c h a n g e s
successfully among the participants. (Nobue Nachi and
Sachiko Suzuki)

2

On September 18, two doctoral students (2016 enrollment,
Hay Chanthol, 2017 enrollment Quentin Verspieren) wereawarded doctoral degrees (public policy). The titles of thepapers are posted on the WEB page(http://www.pp.u-tokyo.ac.jp/news/2020-10-02-27032/).
This time, we received comments from Quentin Verspieren,
who has excellent grades, and Professor Shiroyama, who isan academic advisor.

Quentin Verspieren
The GraSPP doctoral program has been a turning point in mylife, allowing me to bridge my initial expertise in sciences andengineering with my desire to pursue a career in space policy.
Rather than seeing it as an obstacle, my non-traditional
background was always considered valuable by GraSPP faculty
members. In parallel, participating in the Global Leader Programfor Social Design and Management (GSDM) helped me develop
a strong multidisciplinary mindset and to further develop thenecessary links between academic research and concrete social
issues.
The value given by GraSPP to practical experience has been
extremely valuable in my case. While I always strived foracademic excellence, I felt the need to stay grounded, inconnection with the ‘real’ world: civil society, government,
industry, etc. My field, space policy, is very pragmatic. Its
countless constraints– including physical ones, do not tolerate
the ravings of disconnected scholars. I therefore chose,

August 6
Nepal
August 22
Indonesia
August 25
Myanmar
September 13 India
September 26 Philippines
October 24
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Uzbekistan
October 31
East and Southeast Asia

w i th the s trong suppor t of my PhD super v isor s,
Professor Shiroyama and Professor Heng, to continue
to be involved in numerous side projects related togover nment al af f air s, diplomac y and even spaceengineering. This was a true luxur y that ver y few
doctoral programs would allow.
Having finally received my doctorate, I was fortunate to beoffered a research position at the Science, Technology, andInnovation Governance (STIG) of GraSPP, where I work onouter space sustainability, the military uses of space, space
diplomacy, etc. At the STIG program, I can find the rightbalance between my love for academia and my need to workon concrete policy or industrial issues. On the one hand, I am
part of ambitious studies for various Japanese governmental
agencies (e.g. MOFA, MEXT) and on the other hand I was
kindly asked to contribute to five courses offered in GraSPP
as guest lecturer or mentor. I am truly honored by theconfidence of the professors having invited me.
Finally, I would like to give a modest advice to future
generations of GraSPP doctoral candidates: do not restrict
yourself to your main research topic! You should try as
much as possible to discover different fields, even if they
seem at first disconnected from your main interest. It isonly through a wide, interdisciplinary perspective that you
will be able to acquire a critical view of your domain, and todevelop truly innovative ideas and concepts. GraSPP, theUniversity of Tokyo and GSDM have the resources to help
you discover numerous issues beyond your traditional
scope: use them!

Message by Professor
Hideaki Shiroyama
Congratulation for Dr. Verspieren who wrote PhD.
dissertation which is the insightful analysis of space traffic
management from political science perspective. The
dissertation also includes policy relevant recommendations
on the future form for space traffic management. He had
space engineering background at master level andcombined the engineering knowledge and the public policy
knowledge in effective way. He also finished Global Leader
Program for Social Design and Management.

Professor Shiroyama and Quentin Verspieren.

3

NEWS
LETTERGraSPP Public Policy Talk Series
Professor Yasutora Watanabe

We started the GraSPP Public Policy Talk series from this year
for the purpose of increasing the reach of GraSPP to potential
applicants, mainly targeting professionals and undergraduate
students in Japan. As GraSPP has been actively arranging
recruitment events for potential applicants outside Japan, we
have pushed the effort locally as well so that we can reach out
to a more diverse set of students who might not be interested in
GraSPP otherwise. We have held three talks so far. The first talk“Careers in Public Policy” had three panelists: Ms. Kishitani(worked for NGOs, UNICEF, WHO, and currently works for Z
Holdings Corporation), Ms. Matsuda (ex-bureaucrat andcurrently the Manager of Public Policy at Amazon Japan), and
Ms. Ogasawara (worked for JBIC, JICA, Bain, and currently
works for Social Innovation and Investment Foundation). The
composition of the panel reflects the trend that an increasing
number of positions in the private sector are available forcareers in public policy. The panelists discussed their work,
their passion, and their career choices, including work-lifebalance and life-changing decisions they made, sometimes
covering more private topics.
The second event, held in August, was the Intellectual
Dialogue among the deans of GraSPP, Peking University’s
School of International Studies, and Seoul National’s School ofInternational Studies, co-hosted by the CAMPUS Asia Program.

The deans shared each country’s experiences of COVID-19,
especially regarding the use of big data for government policy
making and the reversal of globalization.
The third event, held in September, titled “Central Bank
Economists” featured 5 professors teaching at GraSPP who are
ex-central bankers: Prof. Aoki (former economist at Bank ofEngland), Prof. Kitao (former senior economist at Federal
Reserve Bank of New York), Prof. Kato (former division chief at
Bank of Japan), Prof. Nakata (former principal economist at theFederal Reserve Board), and Prof. Wakamori (former senioreconomist at Bank of Canada). The professors discussed therelationship between policy work and research at central banks
and how they may differ across central banks, with many
behind-the-scenes stories only available to those who worked
in those institutions.
We are planning to develop the series by combining two
types of events: recruiting events in Japanese to attract local
students who may be interested in GraSPP (with the first event
planned for February 2021) and the GraSPP Public Policy Talk
series to cultivate a broader set of potential applicants who
might be interested in the topics of public policy more broadly.
We hope that the name “GraSPP” will spread across thecountry and entice future public policy makers to this school.

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC POLICY, THE UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO

December. 10, 2020東京大学公共政策大学院

ts
en1: AY2020 GraSPP Autumn Diploma Presentation Ceremony
t
n

o

C

60

vol.

2: “GraSPP Alumni & Student Day 2020” Event Report / “Discover GraSPP”—A new approach to overseas recruitment
in partnership with the alumni and partner organizations
3: Introducing GraSPP’s first PhD holder!~4: GraSPP Public Policy Talk Series / TOPICS

AY2020 GraSPP Autumn Diploma Presentation
Ceremony
In order to prevent spreading the Coronavirus, the ceremony
was conducted on a smaller scale and the diploma was presented
by Professors of the Graduate School of Public Policy andcongratulated for their completion of the program together withGraSPP staff.
The commendation ceremony for high-achieving graduates
was also held. The Best Performance Award was presented to one
student in PhD program and one in Master program respectively.

Hiroshi Ohashi, Dean (Graduate School of Public Policy)

1st Public Policy Talk

TOPICS

2nd Public Policy Talk

3rd Public Policy Talk

- The first recruitment of the 2021 PhD program. The application period is from November 20th toDecember 18th, 2020. Please check the following website for details.

My reﬂection of GraSPP and Tokyo- Under recruitment of students for the 2021 MPP / IP course. Please check the followinse for details.

Tw o y e a r s a t G r a S P P i s a n
unforgettable memory for me. The
program is well organized withdiverse students from different places
around the world. Professors andfaculty members are friendly andhelpful. I came to know various
people from different backgrounds. I
made friends who always supported
and encouraged me. I do feel weenjoyed our campus life together. In away, GraSPP teaches one how to be an independent person. Looking
back, what reminds me of GraSPP are the vending machines where
I could enjoy a cup of coffee and relax. My life in Tokyo was quite
special. Of course, living in a foreign country, just like many otherforeign students, I went through both good and bad experiences.
Although life is not always as I wish, living in Tokyo brought me joy,

http://www.pp.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/education/doctoral-course/
http://www.pp.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/mppip/

Editor’ s Postscript
The theme of the “Davos Conference”, the annual meeting of the World
Economic Forum next year, has been decided to be “Great Reset”.
Leaders and managers from around the world will discuss the review ofthe global economic and social system for an after-corona society.
Review is a necessary act in various situations. The days are difficult topredict, but I would like to make appropriate reviews and changes fromtime to time. (Editor)

4

The GraSPP Autumn diploma presentation ceremony AY2020
took place on September 18 at SMBC Academia Hall in theInternational Academic Research Building. 59 students wereconferred the diploma this September.

NEWS
60 LETTER

vol.

(Editor & Publisher) Graduate School of Public Policy, The University of Tokyo(Date of Publication) December 10, 2020

7-3-1, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033 Japan
E-mail grasppnl@pp.u-tokyo.ac.jp
http://www.pp.u-tokyo.ac.jp/

Sa Kimleng (Cambodia) Class of 2020, MPP/IP

peace, and happiness. Japanis a very beautiful country
with many places to visit.
Maybe I did not travel asmuch as my friends, but I
did experience the culture
and nature in Japan tosome extent. Taking thisopportunity, I would like toexpress my sincere gratitude
to my research supervisor,
professors at GraSPP, faculty
members, and friends that
helped me a lot during mytime in Tokyo.

1