TOKYO -- Japan should focus on mediating international peace negotiations, rather than sending troops to intervene in conflicts, former United Nations official Sadako Ogata said in a recent interview with The Nikkei. At the same time, she suggested Japanese forces cannot remain isolated and should contribute to peacekeeping operations.
Ogata, a Japanese national, served as the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in the 1990s. Now 87, she is a special adviser to the president of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) -- an organization she led from 2003 to 2012.
