Shoichi Itoh

Shoichi Itoh is a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan (IEEJ). He has extensive expertise in global energy markets and geopolitics, and is a frequent speaker on energy security around the world. He held visiting fellowships at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in 2010, at the Brookings Institution in 2009 and at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in 2006. He also served at the Consulate-General of Japan in Khabarovsk as political and economic attaché in 2000-2003. He earned master’s degrees at the University of London and the University of Tsukuba.

Itoh has spearheaded a variety of policy projects particularly on the U.S.-Japan alliance and also widely published on the international relations and energy links among Japan, China, Russia, and the United States.

His recent publications include:

Atoms for Peace 2.0: The case for a stronger US-Japan nuclear power alliance (Atlantic Council, 2023), together with Julia Nesheiwat, Russia Looks East: Energy Markets and Geopolitics in Northeast Asia (Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2011); “A New Era of Coal: The ‘Black Diamond’ Revisited”, published on the website of the National Bureau of Asian Research, 2014; “The Geopolitics of Northeast Asia’s Pipeline Development”, in Mikkal E. Herberg (ed.), Energy Security and the Asia-Pacific: Course Reader (the National Bureau of Asian Research, 2014); “Sino-Japanese Competition over Russian Oil” in Robert E. Bedeski & Niklas Swanström (eds.), Eurasia’s Ascent in Energy and Geopolitics: Rivalry or partnership for China, Russia and Central Asia? (London: Routledge, 2012); “Sino-Russian Energy Relations: True Friendship or Phony Partnership?”, Russian Analytical Digest, No.73, 2010; “China’s Surging Energy Demand: Trigger for Conflict or Cooperation with Japan?”, East Asia: an International Quarterly, Vol. 25, No. 1, 2008, etc.