Peaceful Ways Forward: Center for Mediation Support Launched in Tokyo

A New Center to Tackle an Old Problem

In the past, Japan’s involvement in peacebuilding has largely consisted of reconstruction support in the postconflict phase. Now a new entity, the Center for Mediation Support, has taken shape with the mission of getting involved earlier on—helping to craft peaceful settlements even before the fighting is finished on the ground.

The CMS, launched officially on April 1, 2026, by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, takes Southeast, South, and West Asia as its main geographical area for action. With around 10 specialists in conflict mediation onboard already, the center will focus on areas including creating chances for and facilitating dialogue among conflict parties and other stakeholders; implementing capacity-building programs to train those who will engage in the peacebuilding process; hosting exchanges with peacebuilding specialists from around the world; and providing practical mediation support tailored to specific regions where conflict is seen.

Heading the CMS as its first director is Horiba Akiko, a Southeast Asia specialist and senior program officer at the SPF who has extensive experience in mediation and peacebuilding work in the far south of Thailand, where government forces and ethnic Malay Islamic separatists have repeatedly clashed.

Horiba Akiko, tapped as the first director of the Center for Mediation Support, sits at top left and speaks with women residents of southern Thailand as part of a Sasakawa Peace Foundation peacebuilding exercise in 2018. (Courtesy SPF)

The Task Ahead: Network-Building

On April 1, the new center marked its launch with a press conference at SPF headquarters in Minato, Tokyo. Sasakawa Yōhei, honorary chair of the SPF and the Nippon Foundation, stated: “We want to build a network of specialists from around the world in the realm of conflict mediation, and to make Japan’s presence felt in it. We hope to see the new center display its capabilities as a private-sector actor that can speak freely without governmental restrictions.” He went on to promise that the CMS would place a special focus on dispatching young Japanese researchers around the world with the aim of deepening Japan’s human resources in this area.

Sunami Atsushi, president of the SPF, noted that there had been no prior discussion with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding ties with its own International Peace Mediation Unit, established in March this year. The CMS, stressed Sunami, would advance its activities while making the most of its private-sector position.

CMS Director Horiba, meanwhile, said: “One advantage Japan enjoys in this realm is its neutral position, which can be recognized by both parties to a conflict. I hope to see our organization make the most of this in pursuing its activities in peace mediation and support for peacebuilding. In terms of fostering human resources in the peace field, too, we want to develop a quintessentially Asian approach to the craft, rather than simply going with what has been established in the West to date.”

(Originally published in Japanese on April 2, 2026. Banner photo: From left, Center for Mediation Support Director Horiba Akiko, Sasakawa Peace Foundation Honorary Chair Sasakawa Yōhei, and SPF President Sunami Atsushi present the new CMS in Minato, Tokyo, on April 1, 2026. © Nippon.com.)