In 1999, JCIE served as the secretariat for the Prime Minister’s Commission on Japan’s Goals in the 21st Century, established by then Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi on March 26, 1999. JCIE President Tadashi Yamamoto served on the Commission as one of its 16 core members, all private citizens from various fields of expertise, and was appointed as the Commission’s director in its first meeting. The Commission consisted of five subcommittees, each of which was assigned to a specific theme. The subcommittees were asked to produce a report containing mid-term and long-term policy recommendations for Japan’s course in the new millennium, with the goal of stimulating national debate on the goals that Japan should strive for in the 21st century.

As one of its activities as secretariat, JCIE organized a consultation visit to Washington DC in October 1999 for a small group of Commission members and arranged meetings with foreign policy experts, government officials, scholars, and journalists to discuss domestic trends and policy issues in the United States.