Kimiaki Kawai is the Program Director for Peace Affairs of Soka Gakkai International (SGI)[1] and the Director for the Peace Committee of Soka Gakkai (Japan). Since the early 1990s, Mr. Kawai has been involved in the peace education activities for the general public.[2] He was responsible for organizing an SGI’s anti-nuclear-weapon exhibition in Oslo in April 2009 when Foreign Minister Store of Norway delivered his speech in the opening.[3] Mr. Kawai has participated in international conferences as a speaker including: at a side event of the Second Preparatory Committee for the 2015 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) (Geneva, 2013), the OPANAL Conference to Commemorate 45 Years of a Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone in Latin America (Mexico City, 2012) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Annual Consultations with NGOs (Geneve, 2011)[4]. Mr. Kawai holds a bachelor’s degree in literature from Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. He was born in 1965.
[1] SGI is a worldwide network of lay Buddhists dedicated to a common vision of a better world through the empowerment of the individual and the promotion of peace, culture and education. Headquartered in Tokyo, SGI has had consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) since 1983.
[2] See: Kimiaki Kawai: Building Global Solidarity Toward a Nuclear-Free World http://www.sgiquarterly.org/feature2010Oct-7.html
[3] For further details, see http://www.ipsnews.net/2009/04/disarmament-norway-seeks-a-new-push/