• Professional Career

Mr. Masato Watanabe currently serves as Course Director for the Diplomatic Academy Program at GRIPS, which is attended by mid-level staff from various ministries and agencies of Japan. He is also involved in GRIPS's exchange with Southeast Asian think tanks and the Indo-Pacific cooperation research group of GRIPS.
As a Japanese diplomat, he served as Ambassador to Bulgaria (2017-2020), Ambassador to Bangladesh (2015-2017), Consul General in San Francisco (2013-2015), Senior Vice President of JICA (2011-2013), and Deputy Director General of International Cooperation Bureau of MOFA (2007-2009). Currently, he is involved in non-governmental organization activities, including serving as President of the Japan-Bangladesh Society. He obtained his bachelor's degree from the Faculty of Law at the University of Tokyo in 1980.

• Selected publications

“Bulgaria and the Western Balkans Cooperation Initiative”