Public lecture by H.E. Mr Kazuo Kodama, Ambassador of the Mission of Japan to the European Union in Brussels Title: From “One-nation Pacifism” to “Proactive Contribution to Peace” - Japan’s post-war journey since 1945 Biography: H.E. Mr Kazuo Kodama has been Ambassador of the Mission of Japan to the European Union in Brussels since September 2016. Before that, he was based in Paris for three years serving as the Japanese Ambassador to the OECD. H.E. Mr Kodama first joined the Japanese Foreign Service over 40 years ago in 1976 and since then has spent over half his career abroad, serving in various high-level governmental positions, including as Consul-General in Los Angeles, Deputy Permanent Representative to the U.N. in New York, and most recently in Paris and Brussels. He has also held a number of high-level positions in Tokyo, including Deputy Director-General of the Economic Cooperation Bureau, and Press Secretary / Director-General for Press and Public Relations in the Minister’s Secretariat. About the lecture: Ambassador Kodama notes: “When I studied at the University of Oxford in the late 1970s, the Japanese approach towards diplomacy and security 30 years after the war was described as “Japan: Economic giant but political dwarf”. I would like to respond to this statement from the viewpoint of 2017.”