About Us

Dr Hiroyasu (Hiro) Akutsu is Professor in the Defense and Security Program and teaches Wargaming and Simulation at Zayed Military University.

He was formerly Chief of Policy Simulation and professor at the National Institute for Defense Studies (NIDS) in the Ministry of Defense in Tokyo. After fifteen years of teaching and research at the institute, he moved to Heisei International University in Saitama where he was Professor of International Politics and Security Studies. He also taught at the Australian Defense Force Academy (ADFA) in Canberra, Sophia University, Gakushuin Women’s College, Tamagawa University, and Kyorin University in Tokyo.

In addition to teaching at universities, he was the Director of Research and Analysis at the Okazaki Institute, a visiting scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington DC and UK Defense Ministry’s Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre (DCDC) in Shrivenham, and a visiting fellow at the Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies (RUSI) in London, the New Asia Research Institute (NARI) in Seoul, and the Japanese correspondent for the US Nautilus Institute’s Northeast Asia Peace and Security Network (NAPSNet) Daily Report.

Academic Degrees:

• Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science and International Relations (PS/IR), Australian National University
• Master of Law (Political Science and International Relations), Keio University
• Bachelor of Law (Political Science and International Relations), Keio University

 

Certificates:

• Effective Facilitator, Leadership Strategies (US)
• War History of Japan, National Institute for Defense Studies (Japan)
• Econometrics, Cabinet Office, Government of Japan (Japan)
• Unification Studies, National Institute for Unification Education (ROK)

• Wargaming and Simulation
• Security Studies
• International Relations

• Wargaming (Design, Practice & Analysis, and History)
• Modeling and Simulation (Conflict and System Dynamics)
• Military Operations Research
• Security and Military Analysis (Indo-Pacific, Cross-Strait, Korean Peninsula)
• Alliance Politics

Journals and Proceedings (Recent):

•  ‘Re-Focusing Existing Wargames on Deception,’ Wargaming Deception Working Group Working Papers, forthcoming.
• ‘Utilizing Artificial Intelligence in Japanese Defense Wargaming and Policy Simulation: A Case for an Allied Approach to Dealing with Common Adversaries,’ MORS Journal of Wargaming, Vol., No. 1, May 2024, pp. 21-28.
• ‘Exploring the Possibility of Nuclear Attacks on Japan: Nuclear Simulations in the Era of "Three-Front Nuclear Threats",’ Security Studies, Vol. 5, No. 2, June 2023, pp. 1-20.
• ‘Layers of Ethics Surrounding Wargaming: How and Why Some Wargames Were ‘Unethical’ in Japan,’ Connections US 2021 Wargaming Conference Proceeding (Unethical Professional Wargaming Final Report), 2021, pp. 101-113.
• ‘Japan's View of the North Korea Security Challenge and How to Meet It,’ The U.S.-Japan Alliance and Rapid Change on the Korean Peninsula, RAND Corporation Conference Papers 2021, March 2021, pp. 33-43.

 

Book Chapters (Selected):

• ‘Applying the Richardson Arms-Race Model and Akaike’s Relative Power Contribution to a Data Analysis of Japan’s Changing Security Environment,’ Mathematics of Election, Voting, and Public Choice (Tokyo: Kyoritsu Publishing, 2021), pp. 275-304.
• ‘EU-Japan Military Relations,’ EU-Japan Security Cooperation: Trends and Processes (London and New York: Routledge, 2019), pp. 37-55. (Co-Authored with Simon Duke)
• ‘Japan’s North Korea Strategy: Dealing with New Challenges,’ Strategic Japan: New Approaches to Foreign Policy and the U.S.-Japan Strategic Alliance (Washington DC: Center for Strategic and International Studies /Rowman & Littlefield, 2015), pp. 61-78.
• ‘The Changing Security Dynamics in Northeast Asia and the US Alliances with Japan and South Korea: Toward Synchronisation,’ China's Power and Asian Security (London and New York: Routledge, 2015), pp. 151-164.
• ‘Japan-China Cooperation on the Future Korean Peninsula,’ The Koreas Between China and Japan (Cambridge: Cambridge Scholar Publishing, 2014), pp. 265-282.
• ‘International Relations Surrounding North Korea,’ Reviewing Japan’s Security (Tokyo: Jiyu Kokumin Sha, 2004), pp. 331-366.
• ‘Strengthening the US-Centered Hub-and-Spokes System in Northeast Asia,’ Korea-Japan Security Relations: Prescriptive Studies (Seoul: Oruem Publishing House, 2000）, pp. 141-162.
• ‘Toward A Strategy of Collective Balancing: A Rationale for U.S.-Centered Alliances in a Post-Cold War Asia,’ in Ralph Cossa ed., U.S.-Korea-Japan Relations: Building Toward a ‘Virtual Alliance’ (Washington DC: Center for Strategic and International Studies, 1999), pp.132-149.
• ‘An Application of Semantic Information Retrieval System for International Relations,’ Information Modeling and Knowledge Bases XVIII (Amsterdam, Berlin, Oxford, Tokyo, Washington DC: IOS Press, 2006), pp. 62-79. (Co-Authored with Shiori Sasaki and Yasushi Kiyoki)