Gaku’s profile linkedin.com/in/gaku-yoda-64760936

Contact info Gaku’s profile linkedin.com/in/gaku-yoda-64760936 Phone +81-3-3507-9143 (Work) Address Central Common Government Offices No.4, 7F 3-1-1 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8958, JAPANAbout ●After serving Deputy Director-General, Trade Policy Bureau, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry 　・Trade and economic cooperation with the following countries and regions 　　-Southwest Asia (India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Nepal) 　　-Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Colombia, Chile, Peru, Caribbean　countries) 　・EPA (Mercosur, Bangladesh, etc.) 　・Reconstruction of Ukraine 　・Export of food, agricultural, forestry and fishery products, overseas expansion of food industry, inbound response 　・Support for overseas expansion of medium-sized and small enterprises ●After serving as Director-General of the Consumer Affairs Agency and the Food Policy Bureau of the Cabinet Office, in charge of food labelling regulations, including health claims for supliment. ●Served as Director of the Agricultural Management, Fisheries Resources and International Relations Division at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and Counsellor at the Delegation to the European Union in Brussels of Ministry of Foreign Affairs. ●Well-experienced in international trade negotiations in the fields of food, agriculture and fisheries, focusing particularly on the TPP, Japan-EU EPA, Japan-Turkey EPA, CPTTP, Japan-US Trade Agreement, and RCEP.0 ●Chief investigator at the Budget Bureau at the Ministry of Finance, in charge of technical cooperation, human resource development, and ODA budgets for various ministries and agencies, including JICA, JETRO, and the Japan Foundation. ●Associate in the US-Japan Relations Program at Harvard University, specializes in Japan-US food security relations. Gaku YODA · 1st Project Professor, GRIPS Alliance, National Graduate Institute For Policy Studies (GRIPS) Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan · Contact info National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies 東京大学 / The University of Tokyo https://www.grips.ac.jp YODA, Gaku YODA_Gaku.png Position Project Professor Degree Bachelor of Economics, The University of Tokyo Specialty Food and Agricultural policy (food labeling, food security, agricultural structure), Fisheries policy　(fisheries management), International trade (WTO, FTA, EU CAP/CFP) Current Research Interests ・Infrastructure development under the declining population society ・Coexistence with foreigners ・Trade Policy formation process ・Underutilization of the commons Professional Career ・Ater joined MAFF in 1993, worked on Raw material procurement measures for the food processing industry, Establishment of the Total Allowable Catch System following the conclusion of the UNCLS, and Establishment of the Rural Development Bureau following the reorganization of central government ministries and agencies in 2001. ・Engaged in establishing NPO tax system and contributed to Japan’s first “Basic Guidelines for Budget Formulation” at Cabinet Office. Led the beef traceability law after the BSE crisis and developed cross-commodity farm support. ・After researching at Harvard University on international economic law, worked as analyst of fiscal consolidation policy in abroad and as Budget Assessor for ODA including JICA and JETRO at Budget bureau of MOF. ・As Counselor at Japan’s Mission to the EU, promoted easing import restrictions after the Fukushima Nuclear accident. As Negotiator, led Japan-EU EPA, TPP, and TPP11 negotiations ・As Director at Agricultural Management improvement Division in MAFF, enhanced consensus on local agricultural land use for decades, As Director for Administration Division at Fisheries Agency, coordinated Fisheries measures such as combat reputational damage to fishery products following the release of ALPS-treated water into the ocean. ・As DG at Consumer Agency, reformed health claim regulations, As DDG at trade policy bureau at METI, enhanced Investment, and trade between with Latin American such as Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Chili, Argentina and South Asian countries such as India and Bangladesh. View Gaku YODA’s profile Gaku YODA • 1st Project Professor, GRIPS Alliance, National Graduate Institute For Policy Studies (GRIPS) 2w • Edited • Interim Report: Research Group on Basic Infrastructure in a Depopulating Society (Provisional English Translation) https://lnkd.in/gv-qmUpA As Japan's population continues to shrink rapidly, can core infrastructure — roads, water and sewerage, telecommunications, electricity — be maintained under its current institutional framework? To address this question, our research group has compiled an interim report (June 2026). In depopulating regions, network-type infrastructure carries a structural weakness: maintenance costs do not fall in step with the number of users. As population declines, the per-capita burden only grows heavier, and the assumption that service can be maintained at today's level eventually breaks down. The Noto Peninsula Earthquake of January 2024 brought this vulnerability into sharp, sudden relief. The peninsula's topography left numerous communities isolated when roads, water supply, electricity, and telecommunications failed simultaneously — offering, in many respects, an early preview of what depopulating regions may face going forward. The report points toward a direction beyond simply connecting everything through networks: combining self-sufficient, decentralized infrastructure — solar power and batteries, satellite communication, decentralized water-circulation systems — so that communities can sustain themselves, at least temporarily, even when isolated. #Infrastructure #DepopulationPolicy #RegionalRevitalization #PolicyResearch #Resilience Selected publications [1] Yoda, Gaku. “Ensuring the Safety of Livestock Products (1): Information Management and Communication Systems Using Individual Identification Numbers for Domestically Raised Cattle—The Special Measures Law on the Management and Communication of Information for Individual Identification of Cattle.” Toki no Hōrei (Masarasha, ed.), no. 1713 (2004): 6–31. [2] Yoda, G. (2006). The dilemma of agricultural reform in Japan. USJP Occasional Paper 06-15. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University. Site Map Access Library for Student for Alumni Intranet Job Openings About GRIPS News & Events Admissions / Scholarships Education Executive Training Research Alumni Home > News > policy-activity > Symposium Held: “The Worl… News & Events Latest News 2026.04.03 Policy-Activity Symposium Held: “The World After the Trump Administration and the International Trade Order” — Policy Recommendations to Rebuild the Free Trade System Released On Friday, April 3, 2026, the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) hosted a symposium titled “The World After the Trump Administration and the International Trade Order,” organized by GRIPS Alliance’s Research Group on the Transformation and Future Outlook of the International Economic Order (Chair: Haruhiko Kuroda, GRIPS Alliance Senior Fellow. The event brought together participants from government ministries and agencies, research institutions, media, and academia, generating active and substantive discussion. Against the backdrop of significant disruption to the international trade order, including unilateral tariff measures under the second Trump administration, the symposium marked the release of policy recommendations outlining concrete steps to revitalize the multilateral free trade system through cooperation among like-minded countries. The recommendations reflect approximately one year of deliberations within the Research Group and present a realistic and actionable pathway for future international trade rule-making. Summary of the Policy Recommendations The Recommendations, titled “Constructing a New International Trade Order for Maintaining and Advancing the Free Trade System,” address structural challenges facing the WTO-centered system and proposes a new framework built on two complementary pillars. 1. Strengthening Trade Disciplines Like-minded countries would establish high-standard disciplines through a plurilateral agreement to address issues such as excess capacity, non-transparent subsidies, and state-owned enterprises. Participating countries would benefit from stable market access under high-standard FTA tariff schedules (in principle, zero tariffs), while non-participating countries would be offered phased preferential treatment linked to progress under a “reform roadmap,” encouraging broader participation, including from the Global South. The long-term objective is integration into a more effective WTO framework. 2. Economic Security Cooperation To address urgent risks such as the weaponization of economic interdependence and supply chain vulnerabilities, like-minded countries would strengthen cooperation in areas including diversification of critical supply chains, coordinated responses to economic coercion, and protection of critical technologies and infrastructure. Flexible instruments such as intergovernmental MOUs would enable timely and adaptive collaboration. The Recommendations call on Japan to leverage its experience with high-standard trade agreements—including CPTPP and the Japan–EU EPA—to act as a “rule-shaper” bridging advanced economies and the Global South, and to take a leading role in advancing this initiative. Highlights of the Event The symposium opened with introductory remarks by Chair Haruhiko Kuroda, followed by a presentation by Senior Professor Keisuke Iida on the substance and significance of the policy recommendations. A panel discussion then followed, with Chair Kuroda and Senior Professor Iida joined by Professor Tsuyoshi Kawase (Sophia University) and Specially Appointed Professor Naoko Munakata (The University of Tokyo), moderated by Professor Jun Iio. A lively Q&A session further deepened participants’ understanding of the future of the international trade order. e-mail: g-yoda *Please add”@grips.ac.jp” to send a message.