Original text is in Japanese.

Mr. Matsuo Ichiro researched “Greenhouse Gas Reduction, Nuclear Disarmament and Emerging Technologies” during his study in the U.S. and extended its study to Ukraine after returning to Japan. “After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the question of what to do with the nuclear weapons left in Ukraine became a global issue. I have been studying whether those weapons could either be used or disposed of as fuel for nuclear power plants and help reduce carbon emissions.”

Amid his busy schedule working for a newspaper, Mr. Matsuo prepared to study abroad. He chose a relatively safe neighborhood, Harvard University in Boston, since his family was traveling with him. “For my research, I made several trips to Washington D.C. to request documents and conduct interviews. One-way was a seven-hour drive.” Recognition and reputation of the Fulbright Program helped him get in touch with Professor Frank von Hippel at Princeton University, a renowned expert in nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament. “I got to meet many leaders in this field, for instance I also met Professor Richard J. Samuels at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. At my U.S. affiliation, Harvard Kennedy School is famous for its public policy, and I attended seminars on international relations. This experience provided me with the opportunity to interact and build connections with other international students, which included government officials from different countries.”

Upon return to Japan, Mr. Matsuo noticed significant changes in himself. “I am much better at seeing the overall picture, more objective. Every day at work, I was always pressed for time and in a rush that I couldn’t follow up on every little detail. Being freed from that helped me look from broader perspectives and better focus on the issue at hand.” He had also re-realized that his personal connections could help him at work. “When back in Japan, I invited someone who I had interviewed before in the U.S. and became good friends. I invited Professor Elayne Whyte, formerly Costa Rica’s Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs and a professor at Johns Hopkins University, as a speaker for the annual symposium on nuclear disarmament.”He also published several interview articles on Prof. Serhii Plokhii, the Mykhailo S. Hrushevs'kyi Professor of Ukrainian History and the Director of the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University, whom he also met in the U.S.

Currently, Mr. Matsuo shifted his focus to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and picked up learning both the Russian and Ukrainian languages. “I started out researching the measures to reduce carbon emissions and mitigate global warming, but moving forward, I plan to tackle this issue from a perspective, the one from Ukraine.”