The origins of the Japan Centre for Conflict Prevention lie in the work of the Japan Forum on International Relations (JFIR) during the 1990s. JFIR is a policy orientated think-tank concerned with international and diplomatic affairs with a special focus on issues relating to peace and conflict. In 1996, with the support of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, JFIR set up the International Study Group on Preventative Diplomacy (ISGPD) with Mr. Mitsuro Donowaki, former Ambassador to the UN Conference on Disarmament, as its chairman. After three years of study activities that included sending field missions to hot-spots in Asia-Pacific, Europe and Latin-America and holding international symposiums in Tokyo, Washington and Beijing, the final report of ISGPD recommended that “Japanese people also should play an active role on the world stage in the field of preventive diplomacy”.

This recommendation received much attention among Japanese people thanks to growing interest in preventive diplomacy and conflict prevention. With the valuable support of the late Keizo Obuchi, the then Prime Minister, as well as support from private foundations, organizations, business companies and a number of individual supporters, the Japan Center for Preventive Diplomacy (JCPD) came to be established as a private NGO attached to JFIR on July 19, 1999. At its inaugural meeting, Mr. Yasushi Akashi, former Under Secretary-General of the UN was elected Chairman, and Mr. Kenichi Ito, President of JFIR was elected President.

JCPD’s activities began with what came to be known as “The JCCP Seminar Course on Conflict Prevention” normally held in August for the first seven consecutive years. Over ninety graduates of this course, mostly post-graduate students at the time, are now spread all over the world, many of them engaged in key activities related to peace-building. Further to this, JCPD began engaging in overseas activities by establishing representative offices in Sri Lanka, Cambodia and Afghanistan. As JCPD’s activities expanded at home and abroad, it decided to apply for a special non-profit organization status, legally independent from the JFIR. The application was approved by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government on 28 February, 2002, and its name was changed to the present one, the Japan Center for Conflict Prevention (JCCP).