In 2004, we started our Public Policy Program (PPP) in the Graduate School of Economics at Hitotsubashi University in Japan. This is a certificate program for those who want to be professional policy analysts and policy makers. In order to give them opportunities of getting professional training in our program, we created an educational training program known as the “Consulting Project”.

Completing this training program is also one of the requirements for students at the Public Economics Program (PEP) in the School of International and Public Policy at Hitotsubashi University. The school was founded in 2005 in response to the popular demand for public policy schools in Japan.

The Consulting Project is a training program in which each student writes a consulting report for an institution. We ask various institutions to be our students' “clients”. The goal of the Consulting Project is to provide students with chances of tackling real policy problems while studying various theories of public policies at our graduate schools. Recognizing the gap between theories and actual public policy making, and students' attempt to fill the gap under the guidance of our faculty, we believe, would be very valuable experience for our students.

This educational training requires voluntary contributions of many people who kindly understand the importance of such experiences for young promising students who want to be professional policy analysts and policy makers. We appreciate your interest in our educational program.

If there is any question about the Consulting Project, please feel free to contact me at

Shinji Yamashige, Associate Professor
Graduate School of Economics, and
School of International and Public Policy
Hitotsubashi University
2-1 Naka, Kunitachi, Tokyo 186-8601, Japan