Naofumi Hashimoto joined the Japanese Foreign Ministry in 1985. His career has been focused on the Middle East, with overseas service in Damascus (1986-88), Abu Dhabi(1989-91), Kuwait (2001-03), Baghdad (2008-09), Tel Aviv (2009) and Ramallah (2010-12). Before joining MEI as a scholar in September 2012, Hashimoto spent two years living in Ramallah as the Japanese Representative to Palestinian Authority. In that capacity, he supported the PA’s statebuilding efforts with a strong focus on private sector development to help consolidate the economic basis for the future state. After his time at MEI, he returned to Tokyo for a tour in the Foreign Ministry and in August 2018 became Japan’s Ambassador to Iraq.
The US "Pivot" to the Asia-Pacific and US Middle East Policy: Towards an Integrated Approach
here is a need for the United States to adopt an integrated approach, that is, one that encompasses both the Asia-Pacific and Middle East. After all, Asia-Pacific economic growth is heavily dependent on the oil/gas resources of the Middle East and the security and safety of navigation in the maritime space between these regions. For this reason and because of the important bilateral relations the United States has with countries in both the Asia-Pacific and the Middle East, it is neither accurate nor prudent for Washington to treat the Asia-Pacific and the Middle East as separate regions, or to rebalance its weight without taking into full account cross-regional considerations.
Most Asian countries are success stories today. To varying degrees, they have emerged from the colonial experience and/or from destructive wars as far stronger and much more inclusive economically, socially, and politically. I suspect that many Arabs gravitate to Asia partly because they represent both the achievements and the possibilities of modernization.
