Hirooki Ohashi is a Japanese career diplomat currently serving as a Counsellor at the Embassy of Japan in the UK. Before being posted to the UK, he held important positions in the Ministry of Foreign affairs, including Private Secretary to the Foreign Minister. He also served in the National Security Secretariat and the Ministry of Defence, where he dealt with national security issues and the Indo-Pacific region, particularly China, India, the Korean Peninsula, ASEAN and Australia. His research focus is the “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” concept, which he played a major role in creating and promoting, as well as the strategic, geopolitical and geoeconomic situations in the region. In the academic year 2008/2009, he conducted research into the modern intellectual history of the Middle East as a Senior Associate Member of St Antony’s College, Oxford.
