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

  • 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

  • May 21, 2026

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

    If You Can’t Go Up, Go Sideways!: How unconventional talent breaks new ground in Industry

    • Speaker: FURUKAWA Yuichi (Professor, Science and Engineering, Saitama University)
    • Commentator: TANABE Takefumi (Director General, Technology and Innovation Strategy Center (TSC), New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO))
    • Moderator: TAKAMACHI Yasuyuki (Director General of Materials Unit, Technology and Innovation Strategy Center (TSC), New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO))

    Japanese

  • May 18, 2026

    European Politics After Hungary's Election

    • Speaker: HIGASHINO Atsuko (Professor, Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Tsukuba)
    • Commentator: KUNISUE Norito (Project Professor, Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology (RCAST),The University of Tokyo)
    • Moderator: TAMURA Akihiko (Senior Advisor, RIETI / Director General JETRO Paris)

    Japanese

  • May 14, 2026

    Russia and Ukraine: Two distinct meanings of industrial capacity competition

    • Speaker: KOIZUMI Yu (Associate Professor, Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, the University of Tokyo)
    • Commentator: HIRAKI Tadayoshi (Consulting Fellow, RIETI / First Secretary, Embassy of Japan in Ukraine)
    • Moderator: TAMURA Akihiko (Senior Advisor, RIETI / Director General JETRO Paris)

    Japanese

  • April 24, 2026

    China's "Economic Security" Growth Model, Implications for the US-China Security Dilemma and Lesson for Other Major Players

  • April 23, 2026

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

    Hokkaido, the Kingdom of Food, Blazes a New Trail: Can scientific evidence be used to evaluate the functional benefits of food and applied to health promotion?

    • Speaker: NISHIHIRA Jun (Chairman of Hokkaido Information University. Professor of the Dept. of Medical Management & Informatics, Director of the Center of Health Information Science Center, Hokkaido Information University, Hokkaido, Japan.)
    • Commentator: TANABE Takefumi (Director General, New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) Technology and Innovation Strategy Center (TSC))
    • Moderator: SUZUKI Kaoru (Senior Researcher, New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) Technology and Innovation Strategy Center (TSC))

    Japanese

  • April 16, 2026

    Focusing on Liberal Arts as a Business Strategy: Reinterpreting Japanese Traditional Culture through a Strategic Management Lens Case Study: Japanese sake “Shichiken” – Tradition and innovation: Changing to remain unchanged

    • Speaker: KITAHARA Tsushima (President & CEO, Yamanashi Meijo Co., Ltd.)
    • Commentator & Moderator: SATO Katsuhiro (Consulting Fellow, RIETI / Professor, Graduate School of Business and Finance, Waseda University / Adjunct Professor, Graduate School of Management, Kyoto University)

    Japanese

  • April 10, 2026

    Refundable Tax Credits and the Taxation of Social Insurance Premiums

    • Speaker: SATO Motohiro (Professor, Graduate School of Economics, School of International and Public Policy, Hitotsubashi University)
    • Commentator: KOBAYASHI Yohei (Consulting Fellow, RIETI)
    • Moderator: SEKIGUCHI Yoichi (Director of Research and Senior Fellow, RIETI)

    Japanese

  • April 2, 2026

    AI Supply Chains: Geopolitical implications

    • Speaker: Chris MILLER (Professor of International History, Fletcher School, Tufts University / Author)
    • Commentator & Moderator: NAMBU Tomoshige (Director, IT Industry Division, Commerce and Information Policy Bureau, METI)