Foreign Policy is a monthly journal on foreign policies that is widely read by experts in the field. There is also a magazine published once every month and read by a similar audience called Foreign Affairs. Both are publications which I enjoy reading.
Starting four years ago, Foreign Policy has chosen its "100 Top Global Thinkers" every year, announcing their list in December.
Amazingly, for 2012, I was chosen as one of the “100 Top Global Thinkers 2012” for my role as Chair of the Fukushima Nuclear Independent Investigation Commission by the National Diet of Japan. Some of the people chosen are in pairs, so it is not exactly one hundred people. There were many politicians, as they have a large influence on ideology. At the top of the list this year are Aung San Suu Kyi and Thein Sein of Myanmar as a pair. Also, another Japanese on the list is Haruki Murakami.
Last year’s top list for 2011 shows many people related to the Arab Spring. Among Japanese, there were Ms. Mizuho Fukushima and her husband. Also, there was Dr. Joi Ito, who was appointed to become the director of the MIT Media Lab, and Ms. Mari Kuraishi of Global Giving.
How was it in 2010? There were probably no Japanese people on the list.
How about 2009? It is fun to search in this way. Please let me know if you find any.
Regarding the editorial quality, they are real pros, as the descriptions of each person on the list is very good.
The top two people of this year were awarded:
“For showing that change can happen anywhere, even in one of the world’s most repressive states.”
“For his vast imagination of a globalized world.”
“For daring to tell a complacent country that groupthink can kill.”
NAIIC has been evaluated positively abroad, but within Japan it has not been the case… I wonder why.