Takuya Hirata is a global affiliate visiting scholar at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC) for 2022-23. Hirata has over 12 years of experience working for the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan, mainly in charge of energy and environmental policy making and promoting Japanese industries such as the robotics and space industries. Most recently, he was responsible for tax system reform and business succession of small and medium enterprise including promoting M&A. He received his Master and Bachelor degree of Engineering from Kyoto University in Japan.