BBL Seminars

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RIETI's periodic Brown Bag Lunch (BBL) seminars welcome an array of guest experts to share their research and views. The sessions encourage lively discussion that contributes to dynamic policy-related debate.
Select transcripts and handouts are available below.
Videos of the seminars are published on RIETI’s official YouTube channel, “rietichannel,” after each event.

Past BBL Seminars Reports and Summaries

  • June 19, 2026

    How Might India Prepare Itself for an Application to the CPTPP -- Will this make India more attractive for Japanese FDI

    • Speaker: Suman BERY (Former Vice Chairman, National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog))
    • Commentator: URATA Shujiro (Senior Research Advisor, RIETI / Professor Emeritus, Waseda University)
    • Commentator: YOSHIDA Yasuhiko (Consulting Fellow, RIETI / President, The Association for Overseas Technical Cooperation and Sustainable Partnerships (AOTS))
    • Moderator: SEKIGUCHI Yoichi (Director of Research and Senior Fellow, RIETI)

  • June 17, 2026

    RIETI- CIGS Joint Open BBL Seminar

    The Neo-Japonism Model: Japanese Creativity

    • Speaker: NIIHARA Hiroaki (Senior Fellow, Canon Institute for Global Studies / Former Deputy Secretary-General, Headquarters for the Realization of New Capitalism, Cabinet Secretariat)
    • Commentator: IKEDA Yoko (Consulting Fellow, RIETI / Director, Competition Enhancement Office, Economic and Industrial Policy Bureau, METI)
    • Moderator: TOMIURA Eiichi (President and Chief Research Officer (CRO), RIETI / Dean, Faculty of Data Science, Otsuma Women's University)

    Japanese

  • June 15, 2026

    The Role of the OECD in the Changing Global Economy: Cooperation with Japan - Unpacking the Japan–OECD Cooperation Plan on Economic Security -

    • Speaker: MASAKI Yasushi (Deputy Secretary-General and Chief Economist, OECD)
    • Commentator: INAMURA Takuma (Senior Director, Policy Planning and Coordination Division, Trade and Economic Security Bureau, METI)
    • Moderator: SAKAI Yoshimasa (Director of International Coordination and PR Strategy, RIETI)

    Japanese

  • June 11, 2026

    2026 White Paper on Small and Medium Enterprises in Japan / 2026 White Paper on Small Enterprises in Japan

    • Speaker: OKADA Naoya (Director, Research Office, Business Environment Department, Small and Medium Enterprise Agency, METI)
    • Commentator: GOTO Yasuo (Research Associate, RIETI / Professor, Faculty of Social Innovation, Seijo University)
    • Moderator: SEKIGUCHI Yoichi (Director of Research and Senior Fellow, RIETI)

    Japanese

  • June 9, 2026

    RIETI-NEDO Joint BBL Seminar Series: Emerging Industry Frontiers and Pioneering Innovation

    New technologies and fields set to become Japan's keys to success in the future! From the NEDO Innovation Strategy Center

    • Speaker: TANABE Takefumi (Director General, Technology and Innovation Strategy Center (TSC), New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO))
    • Commentator & Moderator: KISHIMOTO Kikuo (Director, Technology and Innovation Strategy Center (TSC), New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO))

    Japanese

  • June 3, 2026

    World Economic Outlook: Global economy in the shadow of war

    • Speaker: NAGAOKA Takashi (Director, Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, International Monetary Fund (IMF))
    • Commentator: NAKAJIMA Atsushi (Consulting Fellow, RIETI)
    • Moderator: SAKAI Yoshimasa (Director of PR Strategy, RIETI)

    Japanese

  • June 2, 2026

    EU-Japan cooperation in Economic Security: ‘If you stand on one foot only, you are shaky’--Economic power demands comprehensive security cooperation including military field

  • June 1, 2026

    Quantifying the Effect of AI Invention on Productivity

  • May 29, 2026

    The Significance of the Newly Launched Mid-Sized Enterprise Policy and Its Future Outlook

    • Speaker: MIYAKAWA Daisuke (Faculty Fellow, RIETI / Professor, Faculty of Commerce, School of Commerce, WASEDA University)
    • Speaker: AOKI Shinji (Deputy Director, Regional Economic and Industrial Policy Division, Economic and Industrial Policy Bureau, METI)
    • Moderator: TAKATANI Shinya (Deputy Director, Policy Planning and Coordination Division, Innovation and Environment Policy Bureau, METI)

    Japanese

  • May 26, 2026

    The U.S.-China Leaders' Summit and Developments under The Trump Administration

    • Speaker: WATANABE Tsuneo (Senior Fellow, The Sasakawa Peace Foundation)
    • Commentator: TSUGAMI Toshiya (Visiting Fellow, Japan Institute of International Affairs / Expert on Contemporary China)
    • Moderator: TAMURA Akihiko (Senior Advisor, RIETI / Director General JETRO Paris)

    Japanese