Keiko Hirata is Eugene Price Professor and Chair of political science at California State University, Northridge USA. She is the author of Civil Society in Japan: The Growing Role of NGOs in Tokyo's Aid and Development Policy (2002), co-author of Japan: The Paradox of Harmony (2014), and co-editor of Norms, Interests, and Power in Japanese Foreign Policy (2008).

Hidekazu Sakai is Professor of International Relations at Graduate School of Language and Cultural Studies Division at Kansai Gaidai University, Japan. He is the author of The US-Japan Security Community: Theoretical Understanding of Transpacific Relationships (2018) and co-editor of Re-rising Japan: Its Strategic Power in International Relations (2017) and Alternative Perspectives on Peacebuilding: Theories and Case Studies (2022).