Masaki Nomura, MPA, MPhil
Researcher and Strategist at Harvard/Kyoto shaping global governance through philosophy and design

BIO
Masaki Nomura is a researcher and strategist working at the intersection of Japanese thought and global governance. His research applies the principles of Japanese philosophy—seeking the non-duality of subject and object, self and others, humans and nature, body and mind—to global agendas such as sustainability and diversity, both of which are often framed through modern dualistic and reductionist approaches.

His career spans government, business, and academia. He served as a national government official at Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and later as a C-suite executive at the medical AI venture Aillis, Inc., which won the Grand Prix at the Startup World Cup 2023. He is also the co-author of the Harvard Business School case study “The Pokémon Company: Evolving into an Everlasting Brand,” which highlights Japan’s unique management philosophy prioritizing long-term and mutual prosperity over short-term and individual profit.

He currently serves as Executive Advisor and Chief Strategist at the Kyoto Institute of Philosophy (KIP), founded by the chairpersons of NTT and Hitachi, the CEO of NewsCorp, and other global leaders. In September 2025, he designed and led the inaugural Kyoto Conference, convening 600 global executives and philosophers. He is also an Executive Advisor to the Yamauchi No.10 Family Office (the Nintendo founding family) where he launched the Yamauchi Japan Initiative, sits as a Special Committee Member of the Kyoto City Government’s Deliberative Council, for which he authored The Kyoto Philosophical Charter (to be officially published in December 2025), and is an Affiliated Research Fellow at Kyoto University. A lifelong practitioner of kendo (Japanese traditional martial arts of swordsmanship), he continues to cultivate its discipline as part of his philosophical practice.

He holds a Master in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School, a Master of Philosophy from Kyoto University, and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Tokyo. He is currently a doctoral researcher at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, focusing on Japanese non-dualistic philosophy in relation to architecture and urbanism, aiming to translate these ideas into practice in the global arena.

EDUCATION
Master in Public Administration | Harvard University
Master of Philosophy | Kyoto University
Bachelor of Arts | The University of Tokyo

AFFILIATIONS
Doctoral Researcher | Harvard Graduate School of Design
Affiliated Research Fellow | Kyoto University
Executive Advisor and Chief Strategist | Kyoto Institute of Philosophy
Executive Advisor | Yamauchi No.10 Family Office (Nintendo’s founding family office)
Special Council Member | Kyoto City Government

FOR MORE INFORMATION
https://researchmap.jp/masaki_nomura?lang=en

CONTACT
mnomura@gsd.harvard.edu