Rieko Hayakawa, PhD, is a Japanese scholar with an expertise in Pacific security, ICT4Development and ocean law. She is also involved in community activities on Japan-ASEAN youth under the Prime Minister’s Office. She launched the upgrade for USPNet as a Japan/Australia/NZ overseas development assistance project, as well as the maritime security project for the western Pacific, and many other projects. In 2017, she proposed the Indo-Pacific strategy with maritime security and Pacific Islands to the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. She has MAs in education, international relations and a PhD in ICT4D (Otago University, NZ). Currently she is working on a second PhD in international ocean law at Doshisha University, Kyoto, and is Secretary for Indo-Pacific Studies Group, Japan.