The National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) conducted a legal workshop for 10 officials from the Office of the Council of State (OCS) for 5 days from June 10 to 14, 2024.? This workshop has been held almost every year since 2014, and it was the first face-to-face workshop in 5 years after the online workshop during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this workshop, GRIPS faculty members gave lectures on the general administration of Japan, as well as on agriculture, food, and renewable energy as requested by OCS, and visited related facilities. The participants learned about administrative reforms, local government systems, decentralization, EBPM, smart agriculture, food security, and renewable energy in Japan. They also visited the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO) and Yokohama City.

At NARO, the participants were briefed on NARO's overall business and smart agriculture and then visited Gene Bank. In Yokohama City, after listening to an explanation of decarbonization town planning, the participants visited a charging equipment for EVs on a public road and a photovoltaic power generation facility. The participants deepened their understanding of agricultural policies and decarbonization initiatives.

Throughout the program, participants asked numerous questions about laws and regulations, and the lecturers responded to their concerns by giving explanations based on the social conditions in Thailand and Japan. On the final day of the program, the Program Director, Professor Hirofumi Takada (Vice President and Director of the Executive Development Center for Global Leadership), awarded certificates to all participants.