Maiko Ichihara is a Professor in the Graduate School of Law and the School of International and Public Policy at Hitotsubashi University, Japan. She is also the director of the Democracy Advocates at Risk program, chairs the steering committee of the East Asia Democracy Forum, and serves on the steering committees of Japan Factcheck Center, International Coalition for Democratic Renewal, and Indo-Pacific Platform for Universal Values. Throughout her career, she has undertaken research on international relations, democracy support, Japanese foreign policy, and influence operations. She earned her Ph.D. in political science from George Washington University.
Her publications include: “How to Tackle Disinformation in Japan: Lessons from the Russia-Ukraine war,” in Jessica Brandt, et al., Impact of Disinformation on Democracy in Asia (Brookings Institution, 2022); “Japanese Democracy After Shinzo Abe,” Journal of Democracy 32-1 (2021); and Japan's International Democracy Assistance as Soft Power: Neoclassical Realist Analysis (New York and London: Routledge, 2017).
She is a steering committee member of the World Movement for Democracy, East Asia Democracy Forum, and Partnership for Democratic Governance (Japan), and is a co-chair of Democracy for the Future project at the Japan Center for International Exchange. Throughout her career, she has undertaken research on international relations, democracy support, and Japanese foreign policy. She earned her Ph.D. in political science from the George Washington University and her M.A. from Columbia University.