Yoichi Funabashi is Editor-in-Chief of The Asahi Shimbun, one of Japan's oldest, largest, and most renowned national daily newspapers. He also serves on the Editorial Board of Global Asia (Seoul) and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the International Crisis Group (Brussels).

Dr. Funabashi previously served as correspondent for the Asahi Shimbun in Beijing (1980-81) and Washington (1984-87), and as American General Bureau Chief (1993-97). In 1985 he received the Vaughn-Ueda Prize for his reporting on international affairs. He won the Japan Press Award, known as Japan's "Pulitzer Prize," in 1994 for his columns on foreign policy, and his articles in Foreign Affairs and Foreign Policy won the Ishibashi Tanzan Prize in 1992.

Books

Dr. Funabashi's books in English include: The Peninsula Question: A Chronicle of the Second Korean Nuclear Crisis (The Brookings Institution, 2007); Reconciliation in the Asia-Pacific, ed. (USIP, 2003); Alliance Tomorrow, ed. (Tokyo Foundation, 2001); Alliance Adrift (Council on Foreign Relations Press, 1998, winner of the Shincho Arts and Sciences Award); Asia-Pacific Fusion: Japan's Role in APEC (Institute for International Economics, 1995, winner of the Mainichi Shimbun Asia Pacific Grand Prix Award); and Managing the Dollar: From the Plaza to the Louvre (Insitute for International Economics, 1988, winner of the Yoshino Sakuzo Prize). In Japanese, his books include: In Search of Blue Sea (2005); Globalization Trick (2002); How to Come to Terms with Japan's War Responsibility (2002, ed.); Why Not Make English the Second Official Language? (2001); U.S.-Japan Economic Entanglement: The Inside Story (1987); and Neibu: Inside China (1983).

Articles and papers

His recent articles and papers in English include: "Keeping Up With Asia" (Foreign Affairs, September/October 2008); "Power of Ideas: The US is Losing its Edge" (Global Asia, Fall 2007); "Japan: Stuck on the Sidelines" (Newsweek International, 3/5/07); "Koizumi landslide: the China factor" (Yale Global Online, 9/15/05); "The world should also have a vote" (International Herald Tribune, 3/25/04); "Koizumi opens a Pandora's box" (Financial Times, 1/7/04); "China is preparing a 'peaceful ascendancy'" (International Herald Tribune, 12/30/04); "Learning from five years of trialogue" (China-Japan-US: Meeting New Challenges, 2002); "Northeast Asia's strategic dilemmas" (Assessing the Threats, 2002); "Asia's digital challenge" (Survival, Spring 2002); "Japan's unfinished success story" (Japan Quarterly 2001); "Japan's moment of truth" (Survival, Winter 2000-01); "International perspectives on national missile defense: Tokyo's temperance" (The Washington Quarterly, Summer 2000); "Tokyo's depression diplomacy" (Foreign Affairs, November / December 1998); "Thinking trilaterally" (China-Japan-US: Managing the Trilateral Relationship, 1998); and "Bridging Asia's economics-security gap" (Survival, Winter 1996-97).

Academic carreer

Dr. Funabashi received his B.A. from the University of Tokyo in 1968 and his Ph.D. from Keio University in 1992. He was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University (1975-76), a visiting Fellow at the Institute for International Economics (1987), a Donald Keene Fellow at Columbia University (2003), Distinguished Guest Scholar at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. (2005-2006), and Visiting Professor at the University of Tokyo Public Policy Institute (2005-2006).

Academic Positions:

• Visiting Professor, University of Tokyo Public Policy Institute, Japan (2005-2006)
• Visiting Professor, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea (2004-2005)
• Visiting Professor, University of Tokyo, Japan (2003-2004)
• Visiting Professor, Asia-Pacific University, Oita, Japan (2002-2003)

Civic Activities

• Member, Board of Trustees, ICG (International Crisis Group)
• Member, Trilateral Commission (Asia)
• Member, International trustee, Asia Society
• Editorial board member of the The Washington Quarterly (CSIS)

Public Service

• The Prime Minister's Commission on Japan's Goals in the 21^st Century (April 1999-January 2000)
• Member, Government Commission for Reform of the Foreign Ministry (March 2002-March 2003)

Generally acclaimed as the most respected and credible source of news in Japan and the Asia-Pacific region, The Asahi Shimbun is one of Japan's oldest and largest national newspapers, with a daily circulation of over eight million. Based in Tokyo, its overseas network includes five general bureaus covering America from Washington DC, Europe from London, the Middle East from Cairo, Asia from Bangkok, and China from Beijing, with an additional bureau newly opened in Havana, Cuba, in 2007. The company also broadcasts nationwide in Japan via TV Asahi and has a news website, Asahi.com.

THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT FORUM

With its inaugural preparatory symposium launched with great success in June 2008, The Asahi Shimbun has launched the Global Environment Forum as an annual initiative bringing together business leaders, scientists, NGO leaders and journalists to discuss global environmental issues. We aim through this Forum to provide an opportunity to demonstrate to the world, in cooperation with the Japanese business community, Japan's presence and its commitment as a "Contributory Nation for the Planet Earth."

Coming up on its 130^th anniversary in the newspaper publishing business, The Asahi Shimbun Company boasts a long history of environmental awareness. More than half a century ago, the company had already dispatched reporters and technicians to Japan's Antarctic research expedition team that was sent out in 1956, and has continued offering full support to such efforts ever since. Notable among the Japanese teams' achievements in Antarctica was the vanguard discovery of the ozone hole over Antarctica.

On New Year's Day 2001, The Asahi Shimbun established "The Asahi Shimbun Charter on the Environment," the first program of its kind in the newspaper industry, vowing to make company-wide efforts to become an environmentally advanced company. The company resolved to contribute to curbing the effects of global warming by reducing CO2 emissions by 10 percent (compared to the fiscal 2001 level) by fiscal 2010, thereby promoting an "All-Asahi" effort to implement environmental measures.

In order to attain these goals, Asahi's head offices in Tokyo, Osaka, Seibu and Nagoya, along with the Hokkaido office, have striven to conserve energy at their offices and facilities. The company advocated a "cool biz" campaign to limit the use of air-conditioning and cut down on wasteful energy consumption, and conducted in-house training in conserving energy and raised environmental awareness, encouraging its employees to make individual energy conservation efforts. The plants nationwide undertaking printing for the company have obtained ISO 14001 certification, a testament to the company's earnest commitment to the cause of environmental preservation.

Meanwhile, as a newspaper company, The Asahi Shimbun has continued to provide extensive multilateral coverage of environmental issues, aiming to raise awareness and stimulate fruitful public dialogue on such pressing global issues as climate change.