Toshihiro Menju, Managing Director and Chief Program Officer, Regional Networking

After working for the Hyogo Prefectural Government for ten years, Toshihiro Menju joined JCIE in 1988. He has managed a variety of programs in his two decades at JCIE, and he is nationally known as an expert on grassroots international exchange and cooperation activities. In 2003, he organized the first National Conference for Practitioners of International Exchange and Cooperation, serving as its chairman. He is currently a selection committee member for the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication's Best Sister City Program Award as well as for the Japan International Cooperation Agency's Grassroots Partnership Program.

Mr. Menju is the author of Ibunka Taiken Nyumon (Introduction of Multicultural Experiences, 2003) and Chikyu shimin nettowaku (Network of Global Citizens, 1997) and co-editor and co-author of numerous books, including Tabunka pawa shakai (A 'Multicultural Power' Society, 2007) and Japan's Road to Pluralism (2003). He has also been a lecturer at Keio University, Shizuoka University of Art and Culture, and Keisen University. He graduated from Keio University with a degree in political science and obtained an MPA from Evergreen State College in Washington State, USA.

Select Publications

• Jinko Gekigen: Imin ha Nihon ni hituyo de aru [The Dramatic Population Decline: Immigration is needed for Japan], Shincho Publishing (2011)


• Exploring Kyushu's External Relations and its Asian Strategy [pdf 348kb] (2007)


• Tabunka pawa shakai [A 'Multicultural Power' Society] (2007)


• "The Development of Grassroots International Exchange in Japan and the Impact of American Philanthropy," Philanthropy and Reconciliation: Rebuilding Postwar U.S.-Japan Relations (2006)


• Japan's Road to Pluralism: Transforming Local Communities in the Global Era (2003)


• "Japan and the Other: Re-conceiving Japanese Citizenship in the Era of Globalization," Asian Perspective (Vol. 29, No.1), co-authored with Catherine Lu and Melissa Williams (2005)


• Ibunka Taiken Nyumon [Introduction of multicultural experiences] (2003)


• Kusa no ne no kokusai koryu to kokusai kyoryoku [Grassroots international exchange and cooperation] (2003)


• "A New Paradigm of North-South Relations: Implications of International Cooperation by Local Authorities in Japan," Cities and the Environment: New Approaches for Eco-societies, United Nations University Press (1999)


• Chikyu shimin nettowaku [Network of global citizens] (1997)