Prof. Nakabayashi Mieko is a professor of Political Science at the Center for International Education, Waseda University. She served as an elected member of Japan’s House of Representatives (2009-2012). Before being elected, she had held various public positions such as Commissioner of the Fiscal System Council at the Ministry of Finance, a member of the International Committee of the Council for Science and Technology at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, a member of the Radioactive Nuclear Waste Subcommittee at the Agency for National Resources and Energy in the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and a visiting scholar at the Legislative Council and the Research Bureau of the House of Representatives. She also served as a professional staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Budget (1993-2002). Prof. Nakabayashi was named Distinguished Fellow of the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation in 2018. She received her Master’s degree in Political Science at Washington State University and a Ph.D. in International Public Policy from Osaka University.