Professor Sunami holds BSFS from Georgetown University. He obtained MIA and PhD in Political Science from Columbia University. He is currently Adjunct Professor,  Executive Advisor to the President , and Director, The Science for RE-designing Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (SciREX) Center at National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Japan. Also, he is the President of The Sasakawa Peace Foundation since 2020.Before joining GRIPS, he was a Fellow at Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry established by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan between 2001 and 2003. He also worked as a researcher in the Department of Policy Research at Nomura Research Institute, Ltd. from 1989 to 1991. He was a visiting researcher at Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex, and Tsinghua University, China.　He is also a members of the Advisory Board for the Promotion of Science and Technology Diplomacy in Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, the Council for Science and Technology in Ministry of Education, Culture ,Sports, Science and Technology and the Expert Panel on Basic Policy in Council for Science, Technology and Innovation of Cabinet office. He served as Special Advisor, Cabinet Office responsible for Science and Technology and Innovation from 2015 to 2018.