Yoshihide SOEYA retired from the Faculty of Law of Keio University in March 2020, and is now its Professor Emeritus. Having obtained Ph.D. majoring in world politics at The University of Michigan in 1987, Dr. Soeya joined Keio University as Assistant Professor in April 1988, and was promoted to Professor of International Relations in April 1995. During the 32 years at Keio University, he served as the Director of its Institute of East Asian Studies for six years until September 2013, and as the Director of its Center for Contemporary Korean Studies for five years until March 2016. His areas of interest are politics and security in East Asia / the Asia-Pacific / the Indo-Pacific, and Japanese diplomacy and its external relations. Previously, Dr. Soeya served the “Korea-Japan Joint Research Project for the New Ear” (MOFA), the “Council on Security and Defense Capabilities in the New Era” (Prime Minister’s Office), the “Advisory Group on Ministerial Evaluations” (MOFA), the “Central Council on Defense Facilities” (Agency/Ministry of Defense), and the \"Prime Minister\'s Commission on Japan\'s Goals in the 21st Century\" (Prime Minister’s Office).