PKO experts and specialists from Japan, China, Korea and Mongolia held a two-day workshop organized by Friedrich-Ebert Stiftung and the Korean Academic Council on UN System (KACUNS) in Seoul on 29th and 30th April 2015. They discussed how they can strengthen regional cooperation in improving their peacekeeping operations and humanitarian assistance activities. They agreed to establish an East Asian Forum on UN Peace Operations which will be managed by four co-directors: Professor Kyu-dok Hong, President of KACUNS in Republic of Korea, Professor Sukehiro Hasegawa in Japan, Professor Guihong Zhang in China and Col. Shambaljams in Mongolia.

　Mr. Masahiko KIYA has just been appointed Japanese Ambassador to South Sudan. In 2009 and 2010, Mr. Kiya visited Hosei University and delivered lectures twice on Japan’s role in the United Nations. Prior to Ambassador Kiya’s departure for South Sudan, a farewell lunch was hosted by Professor Sukehiro HASEGAWA and participated by MOFA and JICA officials.

　Mr. Hiroto Kiyozumi, the leader of the preparatory secretariat for the 2015 JCK Youth Forum. He will be supported by Ms. Eriko Kawashima, Ms. Kwon Bomi, Ms. Kiyomi Ikenoue, and Ms. Ayaka Mae.

　The Chair of the High Level Independent Panel on UN Peace Operations, Mr. José Ramos-Horta, has written to say that he appreciated the insightful background information and views provided to the Panel as they enabled him and his colleagues to understand better the issues related to UN peace operations from a Japanese perspective. Please find here for summary records of two meetings held with the panel on 26 and 28 January 2015.

　On 19 March 2015, Ambassador Lakhdar Brahimi delivered a keynote speech to start an exchange of views by practitioners and scholars of UN peace operations held at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. The informal consultation meeting was convened by Stephen Browne and Thomas Weiss, co-directors of the Future United Nations Development System (FUNDS) and sponsored by the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation.

　In his essay, Mr. Ian Martin who served as SRSG and head of UN peace missions in Libya, Nepal, Timor-Leste and other countries wrote that all UN peace operations are political in nature and there is a case for designer missions and expressed his views on the next UN reform.

　At his last appearance in the Peacebuilders Training Course in Hiroshima on 25 February, Professor Hasegawa engaged in a dialogue with Hiroshima peacebuilders about the need to integrate the teachings of Eastern and Western philosophical wisdoms in managing the conduct of human behaviors in society and in their relationship with the world.

　Fifteen international participants and their several Japanese counterparts of the Hiroshima peacebuilding seminar took an excursion to Miyajima Island on 7 February. They visited historical, religious and cultural sites including Itsukushima Shrine and Daishoin Temple.

　The Hiroshima peacebuilding associates from Japan and 12 countries reviewed the events that took place in the Kibeho camp in Rwanda for internally displaced persons in April 1995. Fifteen Japanese associates were joined by the equal number of participants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Somalia, and Vietnam.

　Chaired by Mr. Yasushi Akashi, Vice President of the UN Association of Japan and participated by Former Ambassador to the UN, Mr. Kenzo Oshima along with other 18 Japanese scholars and experts met former President José Ramos-Horta, Chair of the High-Level Independent Panel and two of his panel members and discussed how to improve UN peace operations.

　On 27th January, Mr. Ichiro Aisawa, former Senior Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Member, the Board of Directors of UN Association of Japan convened a meeting of Japanese parliamentarians including Mr. Norio MITSUYA, former Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan and Mr. Seiji KIHARA, former Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Liberal Democratic Party, Mr. Satsuki EDA, former Minister of Justice and President of the House of Councilors, and Mr. Motohiro ONO, former Vice-Minister of Defense of the Democratic Party Komeito. They were joined by Mr. Kiyohiko TOYAMA of Komeito who was former Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs.

　On 26th January 2015, former President José Ramos-Horta, Chair of the High-Level Independent Panel and two members, Mr. Ian Martin and Ms. Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu met with Japanese scholars and practitioners of peacekeeping and Special Political Missions (SPM) at the United Nations University. More than 30 persons participated in the informal consultation and exchanged their views on UN peace operations.

　On 25 January 2015, former President of Timor-Leste and Nobel Prize Laureate José Ramos-Horta asked Professor Sukehiro Hasegawa to continue to serve as his personal adviser. Professor Hasegawa had acted as the Special Adviser to Mr. José Ramos-Horta when he was the President of the Republic of Timor-Leste from 2007 to 2012.

　A Timorese student, Orlando da Silva Casimiro, visited Tokyo to prepare for his study in Japan. He visited the University of Tokyo, Waseda University and Hosei University. Orlando also met Professor Hasegawa and talked about his ambition to enter a graduate school in Japan. (Shotaro Fujita)

　Dear former students of the Seminar Class. With the arrival of the New Year, I thank you for all your contributions in ideas and efforts to make fruitful our learning of life. I hope you are blessed with sunshine of laughter, new beam of energy and raindrops of happiness as you step into another brand New Year. May the New Year give you the strength to face the new challenges of life and courage to adjust your sail so as to take every situation to your stride. I wish you all the best and happiness. (Sukehiro Hasegawa)