Asia Pacific Initiative (API) is pleased to announce that TOGASHI Mariko has been selected as the second API Matsumoto-Samata Fellow. Ms. Togashi will be sent to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in the UK as a Research Fellow.

The API Matsumoto-Samata Fellowship is a program at API that aims to send young researchers to foreign think tanks in order to foster next-generation leaders. The program has benefitted from the generous support of Mr. MATSUMOTO Yasukane, CEO and Representative Director of RakSul Inc., and Mr. SAMATA Anri, General Partner at ANRI. The IISS is an independent think tank in London and organizer of the world-renowned IISS Shangri-La Dialogue.　Prior to Ms. Togashi’s appointment, API dispatched Ms. KOSHINO Yuka to the IISS as the first API Matsumoto-Samata Fellow (Term: From Jan 2020 to Dec 2021;https://apinitiative.org/en/2020/01/09/8925/).

Ms. Togashi will, after initially working for API until the end of 2021, be sent to the IISS as a Research Fellow between January 2022 and December 2023, after which she will come back to work for API.

＜Profile of Ms. TOGASHI Mariko＞
Ms. Mariko Togashi is expected to earn her master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in May 2021. During her master’s program, she worked as a research assistant to Dr. Kent Calder at Edwin O. Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies as well as a research intern at CSIS’ Economics Program, focusing on economic security of the U.S., Japan, and China. Prior to her graduate studies, Ms. Togashi worked as an equity analyst at Deutsche Bank and Bank of America Merrill Lynch (currently BofA Securities). She plans to use her expertise in economic policy, the technology industry, and the private sector, as well as analytical skills and knowledge of security and policy, to conduct research on geoeconomics and economic security. She earned her undergraduate degree in International Law at Keio University, Tokyo.

＜About API＞
Asia Pacific Initiative (API) is a think tank and forum which aims to uphold and strengthen the liberal international order in the Asia-Pacific so as to maintain peace and prosperity in the region. API’s objectives are to promote joint research and networks, to create platforms for proposals, to bolster cross-border dialogue, to form a robust intellectual community among the nations of the region, and to discover, educate and collaborate with next-generation leaders.