Kiyoaki Aburaki

Kiyo understands the Japanese business community inside and out from his three decades working for Japan’s most powerful business organization, Keidanren. He covers international trade and investment, defense and aerospace, information technology, entrepreneurship, deregulation and data privacy policy. He also played a leading role in developing and implementing political strategies for the private sector.

Kiyo has led Keidanren’s strategic international initiatives since 2013, and most recently headed up the federation’s international engagement. He worked closely with former Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda to establish Japan’s Track 1.5 dialogues with the United States and China. The dialogues produced important results by strengthening the U.S.-Japan security and economic alliance and improving Japan’s political relations with China.

From 2010 to 2012, Kiyo represented Keidanren and its affiliated think tank, the 21st Century Public Policy Institute, in Washington, D.C. Here he played a key role in several projects at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) such as U.S.-Japan defense industrial cooperation and China’s competitiveness and its reliance on the U.S. and Japan.

Kiyo is senior associate of CSIS and is affiliated with Keidanren as senior director of the Keidanren Strategic International Initiative. He obtained a Master of Science in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Arts in economics from Keio University.

• Prior Professional Experience
  • Senior Associate, Center for Strategic International Studies (Current)
  • Senior Director for Strategic International Initiative, Keidanren (Current)
  • Head for Political Affairs Group, Keidanren
  • Fellow, MIT Japan Program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Areas of Expertise

  Geographic

  • China
  • Japan
  • USA

  Industries

  • Aerospace & Avitation
  • Automotive
  • Autonomous Vehicles
  • Biotechnology
  • Defense
  • E-Commerce
  • Electronics
  • Energy
  • Government Affairs
  • ICT
  • Public Relations
  • Technology
  • Telecommunications
  • Think Tank

  Functional Expertise

  • Communications
  • Corporate Affairs
  • Corporate Social Responsibility
  • Government
  • Government Affairs
  • Policy
  • Public Affairs
  • Research & Development
  • Trade
• Education
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1998)— Master of Science in Political Science
  • Keio University (1989)— Bachelor of Economics
• Selected Publications and Presentations
  • "China’s Competitiveness: Myth, Reality and Lessons for the US and Japan" - Center for Strategic and International Studies, 29 January 2013