Dr. Takumi SAKUYAMA is a professor of agricultural trade policy in the School of Agriculture at Meiji University, one of the largest private universities in Japan. Prior to his transfer to Meiji in 2013, he worked for Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) for 25 years, mainly as a trade negotiator and an economist. In the Ministry, Dr. Sakuyama engaged in such negotiations as the Doha Round in the World Trade Organization (2002-2004), a free trade agreement with Switzerland (2007-2009), a preparatory consultation for FTA with the European Union (2008-2010), and Japan’s participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (2010-2013). In addition, he was seconded to the Japanese Delegation to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris as an agricultural attaché (1999-2002), and to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Rome as an economist (2004-2007).
Dr. Sakuyama earned a Bachelor of Agriculture from Iwate University, a M.Sc. in agricultural economics with distinction from University of London, a M.A. in development economics from University of Sussex, and a Ph.D. in international economics from Aoyama Gakuin University. Specialized in the political economy of agricultural trade policy, he has published numerous articles and books on trade policies, negotiations and agreements. He testified in the Special Committee on the TPP at Japan’s House of Councilors in 2016, and appears in Japanese media frequently commenting on trade-related issues.
He will conduct research on a comparative analysis of agricultural trade policies in Japan and the US during his sabbatical stay here in UC Davis.