Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Geoeconomics (IOG) and the Asia Pacific Initiative (API), based in the International House of Japan. He focuses on economic and health security, sanctions, international conflicts, and Japan’s foreign policy. From 2018 to 2020, Mr. Sagara served as Assistant Director of the Second Northeast Asia Division (North Korea desk) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. From 2015 to 2018, he served in the Guidance and Learning Unit within the Policy and Mediation Division of the United Nations Department of Political Affairs in New York, where he analyzed and disseminated best practices and lessons learned from UN preventive diplomacy and political engagements. From 2013 to 2015, he served in the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Sudan, based in Khartoum. He also worked at the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Headquarters and at DeNA, a Japanese provider of mobile portal and e-commerce websites. Mr. Sagara has been widely published and spoke on public policy. He co-authored a report, “The Independent Investigation Commission on the Japanese Government’s Response to COVID-19: Report on Best Practices and Lessons Learned” (Discover 21, 2021).