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On March 9, 2023, Sascha Hannig Nuñez, GGR assistant and Chilean international analyst, appeared in Mundo +, a news program that is part of the Chilean news website Meganoticias, to discuss recent political affairs in East Asia. Meganoticias is one of the most popular news channels used by the Chilean people and covers a variety of topics from world news to Chilean entertainment. Using her expertise on the influence that East Asian countries have on the world, Ms. Hannig Nuñez discussed Xi Jinping's reelection for another 5 years as well as the increasing tensions in East Asia with North Korea presenting a more aggressive position.

　On March 6, 2023, Yahoo! Japan published an official comment by Professor Nobumasa Akiyama, dean of Hitotsubashi University School of International and Public Policy and GGR researcher. Professor Akiyama commented on the article “‘No Stockpile’ of Uranium Enriched Beyond 80%: IAEA Agrees with Iran to Strengthen Monitoring,” written on the previous day of March 5th and released by Jiji Press. The article reported that the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi recently visited Iran and denied reports that uranium particles with an enrichment rate of 83.7% had been detected in a nuclear facility in Fordo, located in central Iran. Professor Akiyama commented that there have been signs that the centrifuge cascades in the Fordo nuclear facility had been rearranged and due to this there still remains room for skepticism regarding Grossi’s statement. He mentioned that since most of the Western countries remain focused on the war in Ukraine, it remains unknown how much spotlight this topic would receive at the next IAEA board meeting. However, the professor stressed the need to consider the fact that uranium with relatively high enrichment levels has been accumulated to a considerable degree in Iran.

On March 10, 2023, some quotes by Ms. Sascha Hannig Nuñez, GGR assistant and Chilean international analyst specializing in East Asian affairs, were introduced on the main news program of Meganoticias. Meganoticias is one of the most popular news channels used by the Chilean people and covers a variety of topics from world news to Chilean entertainment. Ms. Hannig Nuñez’s quotes came from an interview conducted the day before on Mundo +, a platform of Meganoticias’s, where she talked about recent political affairs in China and North Korea.

As part of the international research project "Legal Systems and Artificial Intelligence" led by Professor Mihoko Sumida, Hitotsubashi University Graduate School of Law, members of the WP1 "Future Scenarios of Legal Systems and Artificial Intelligence Research Group" travelled to the UK and together with research members from the University of Cambridge, held a Foresights Workshop with the agenda "The Future of Work and Labour Law".

On March 3, 2023, Asahi Shimbun introduced a comment by Dr. Maiko Ichihara, GGR researcher and professor of the Graduate School of Law at Hitotsubashi University. The professor commented on the article “Former Leader of Largest Opposition Party to be Imprisoned for 27 Years Before General Election for “Conspiring with Foreign Powers and Treason’.” The article reports that Kem Sokha, former leader of the Cambodia National Rescue Party, was sentenced to 27 years of imprisonment for the act of conspiring with foreign states to overthrow the government. Since general elections are coming up in July, many people have indicated that this sentencing is a way for the current government to clamp down on opposition parties. Professor Ichihara commented that this action taken by the Cambodian government is a typical example of “rule by law”, rather than a state of “rule of law”, in which equality under the law is ensured. She indicates that the current administration is doing everything in its power to win the upcoming general election; hence preventing a fair election. In the end, she argues that the international community, including Japan, should not acknowledge the results of the July election and should aid Cambodia in building a more democratic government.

On December 17th, 2022, Professor Nobumasa Akiyama, Dean of the Graduate School of International a­nd Public Policy at Hitotsubashi University, took part in the Asia Undercurrent webinar. This webinar was part of a webinar series organized by Nikkei Inc. a­nd the Japanese government. In this webinar, which was moderated by Sheila Smith (John E. Merow senior fellow for Asia-Pacific studies at the Council on Foreign Relations), Professor Akiyama discussed the possibility of “A World Without Nuclear Weapons” with other experts including Dr. Tytti Erästö (Senior Researcher, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute), a­nd Dr. Jeffery Lewis (Professor, Director, East Asia Nonproliferation Project). The panelists first talked about current nuclear weapons issues a­nd the multilateral non-proliferation regime. Professor Akiyama commented on the security dynamics in East Asia a­nd stressed the fact that Japan needs to heighten its diplomatic efforts to bring stability to this region. The panelists then went on to address the causes of the current nuclear issues as well as the perception of nuclear deterrence from the viewpoint of U.S. allies. Finally, the webinar ended with brief comments from each panelist on how to propel society toward a brighter future of a world without nuclear weapons.

On December 10, 2022, Professor Nobumasa Akiyama appeared as a moderator on a round-table discussion series released by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, entitled "U.S. Nuclear Policy a­nd Deterrence Strategy: Russia-Ukraine War a­nd It's Implications for the Indo-Pacific." Other participants included Brad Roberts (Director at the Center for Global Security Research of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory), Sugio Takahashi (Head of the Defense Policy Division in the Policy Studies Department at the National Institute for Defense Studies), a­nd Masaru Murano (Japan Chair fellow at the Hudson Institute). In addition to introducing "The End of Nuclear Oblivion: The Era of Nuclear Weapons Restoration" (Keiso Shobo, 2019), edited by Prof. Akiyama a­nd Mr. Takahashi, as well as the Japanese translation of Mr. Roberts' book "The Case for U.S. Nuclear Weapons in the 21st Century" (Keiso Shobo, 2022), published this August, the panelists also expressed their opinions on the trends of US nuclear policy a­nd deterrence strategy, along with other issues such as the Russo-Ukrainian War a­nd the problems in the Indo-Pacific region, as well as Japan's perspective on global issues, a­nd arms control.

On December 8, 2022, Professor Nobumasa Akiyama, Dean of the School of International and Public Policy, was elected as a member of Japan’s International Group of Eminent Persons for a World Without Nuclear Weapons by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. This is a group whose establishment was announced by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida as“a forum in which participants from both nuclear and non-nuclear-weapon states will, aided by the involvement of incumbent and former political leaders around the globe, exchange ideas and thoughts beyond their respective national positions and engage in candid discussions concerning a concrete path towards the realization of a world without nuclear weapons.” Professor Akiyama is one of the three Japanese members who will be joined by twelve non-Japanese members.

On October 25, 2022, Professor Maiko Ichihara appeared on the live broadcast of the 11th Global Assembly of the World Movement for Democracy, held in Taipei. She moderated a session titled “Civil Society Reflection on Today's Challenges” and spoke with activists from Russia, Iran, and Hong Kong about the challenges that democratic societies face. The activists described the situation in their countries as well as the threats posed by the dictators of their respective countries towards democracy and human rights. In response to Professor Ichihara’s questions, the participants expressed their thoughts on how democracy could be promoted not only by the people of the countries covered, but by people from all across the world.

On October 6, 2022, Professor Nobumasa Akiyama appeared as a commentator on the news program Shinsou News, broadcast on the BS Nippon TV channel. There, he discussed the possibility of nuclear weapons being used in the four provinces that President Vladimir Putin recently designated as Russian territory. Professor Akiyama also used his expertise to explain the weapons implicated for use, such as low-yield nuclear weapons, in detail. Furthermore, he discussed with the other commentators the types of nuclear weapons that have been developed since the end of the Cold War a­nd how effective the latest nuclear weapons might be in achieving military a­nd political objectives. Finally, Professor Akiyama talked about the strategies used by both the US a­nd Russia in the ongoing nuclear deterrence debate between the two countries, a­nd stated his opinion on what is needed to prevent Russia from carrying out a nuclear attack.