Prior to joining the Japan Center for International Exchange as a senior fellow, Hitoshi Tanaka was deputy minister for foreign affairs of Japan where he was the architect of Prime Minister Koizumi's North Korea policy. Tanaka was also instrumental in arranging the Prime Minister's visit to Pyongyang in 2002.

Mr. Tanaka's career has been spent in public service, working in both government and now in academia. His government service includes serving as director-general of both the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau from 2001 to 2002 and the Economic Affairs Bureau from 2000 to 2001. Tanaka served as consul-general in San Francisco from 1998 to 2000.

Before being posted to San Francisco, he served in Washington, D.C. as the deputy director general of the North American Affairs Bureau and in London at the Japanese Embassy where he was the director for policy coordination of the Foreign Policy Bureau and a research associate at the IISS. He has been a visiting professor at the Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Tokyo, since April 2006.

He has a B.A. in law from Kyoto University and B.A./M.A. in PPE from Oxford University. Mr. Tanaka has contributed many articles to publications including GAIKO Forum, Bungei Shunju, Gendai, and various newspapers. His latest publication is Kokka to gaiko [The Nation and Diplomacy] (2005).