11It is the responsibility of the Japanese people to contribute to the establishment of sustainable fisheries in the world.but this may change depending on how negotiations proceed.” “Nevertheless, the agreement’s goal of preserving biodiversity would ensure the future of Japan’s fishing activities,” Tsuru as-serts. “It is my belief that Japan should ratify the agreement and secure its seat at the table.”“There was a time when Japan was known for excessive marine re-source extraction. This is why Japan has an obligation to contribute to the establishment of sustainable fishing for the world, includ-ing developing countries,” Tsuru notes. “The BBNJ Agreement convention marks an important step in this direction.” Tsuru initially majored in English literature when she enrolled in Sophia; but it was an elective class on international relations that ignited interest in her current field. After graduating, she worked in a media company but resigned after getting married and be-coming the mother of two children. Seeking a life of more than child-rearing and housework, she eventually returned to Sophia for graduate study.“Raising children makes it difficult to perform fieldwork over-seas. Research on international organizations, such as the United Nations (UN), is primarily based on textual sources, so this was a convenient field for me as a mother and a homemaker. However impure my motivations may have been, this was the reason I chose this field,” Tsuru laughs. Her decision was taken shortly before UNCLOS went into effect, naturally making marine governance a focus of her research. After This Agreement will come into effect upon ratification by 60 countries. As of November 2023, 67 countries had already started the ratification process. Japan will not be legally bound, however, if they do not ratify the Agreement should it come into effect. The Japanese archipelago, sandwiched between two cold and two warm currents and connected to forest and marine ecosystems via numerous short, fast-flowing rivers, is one of the world’s great-est biodiversity and marine resource environments. Global warm-ing, however, is noticeably affecting fish habitats, creating difficult circumstances for fishermen and families alike, such as shortages of Pacific saury, which has long been an inexpensive staple sea-food of Japan. earning her master’s degree, Tsuru felt she lacked sufficient legal knowledge and entered Graduate Schools for Law and Politics, the University of Tokyo. Following that, she taught at several uni-versities and then assumed her current position as a Professor at Sophia University in 2014. “As many are well aware, Japan lags in gender equality,” she says. “I would like to be a role model for younger people to show that it is possible to raise children and at the same time develop pro-fessional expertise through higher education.Tsuru also teaches a class on peace studies. When Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, she struggled with how to impart her knowledge and beliefs on peace. This became even more complex with the eruption of conflict in the Middle East. Tsuru concluded our discussion with words of conviction: “Unfortunately, some might believe that international law and the UN are powerless. There is more to the UN than the Security Council. It is precisely because we have international law that countries must have a ‘rationale’ to justify their actions. If the in-ternational community rejects a country’s justifications, they can impose some form of sanctions. Although these actions may ap-pear minor, I strongly believe that all our international efforts serve as an important safeguard and are not in vain!”
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