Summary Professor Maiko Ichihara, GGR Researcher and member of the Graduate School of Law, participated in the “Asahi World Forum 2022,” which launched online on October 16, 2022. At the conference, Professor Ichihara mainly pointed out the changes in Asian democracies caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the actions that Japan should take in the future. In a discussion with other speakers, she emphasized the increasing concentration of power in governments during the pandemic and the need to refer to history in order to overcome recent complex social situations. Finally, she stated that as new values emerge in the modern world, it is important for Japan to proactively promote democracy rather than to rely on allies such as the United States to do so. The article also includes other discussions from the Asahi World Forum 2022.