Kazuo Watanabe is a research professor at Tsukuba Plant Innovation Research Center (formerly Gene Research Center) within Tsukuba Plant Innovation Research Center & Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Japan. After undergraduate study in Japan, he completed the doctoral course at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1988 and worked both in the South and North Americas. He has been serving as an adjunct professor on Plant Breeding and International Agriculture at Cornell University since 1992. He was also affiliated with the United Nations University and International Plant Genetic Resources Institute as an honorary member up to 2015. Since being based in Japan, he has been working on multidisciplinary research on genetic resources and biotechnology with the biodiplomacy concept and ELSI. He has also served on a part-time basis at various international organizations for technical consultation on biotechnology, genetic resources, and rural development, such as AFDB, FAO, and CGIAR. With his professional experience, technical consultation has been provided to public organizations on agricultural and biotechnological development in developing countries via bilateral ODA through JICA. Generally, he has a global working experience in over one hundred nations and territories.