Graduating from Hitotsubashi University with a degree in economics in 1981, Mr. Sawa joined the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) (now the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry).
Before resigning, he served as manager of the Environmental Policy Division of the Industrial Science and Technology Policy and Environment Bureau, involved in ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, and policy manager of the Natural Resources and Fuel Department at the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy (ANRE), among other positions.
From 2004, he was a professor at the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Tokyo, and, from 2007, served as executive senior fellow of the 21st Century Public Policy Institute, a Keidanren think-tank, generating political proposals in a broad range of areas, including nuclear policy, global warming negotiations and the economy.
Mr. Sawa often appeared at JAIF Annual Conferences and was known as a calm, powerful debater.
