Naohisa Kurita is a corporate affiliate visiting fellow at Shorenstein APARC for 2005-06 and 2006-07. Prior to joining Shorenstein APARC, he worked for Shizuoka Prefectural Government in Japan, where he took charge of coordination and international business affairs. His research interests are in competitive strategy, and cluster-based theory for regional economic development. He graduated from Waseda University in Tokyo, where he majored in sociology.