Japan Memo

The International Institute for Strategic Studies
Japan Memo

The Japan Memo is a monthly podcast series that analyses why Japan matters in today’s regional and global geopolitical landscape. In each episode, Robert Ward of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Japan Chair Programme, will bring in strategists, experts and practitioners from around the world to examine how Japan is using its diplomatic, economic and military tools to achieve its strategic goals, and what lessons it offers to other countries. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. 15 AUG

    Japan and the Pacific Islands countries with Professor Koga Kei, Shiozawa Hideyuki and Euan Graham

    Robert Ward hosts Professor Koga Kei, Associate Professor at Nanyang Technological University, Shiozawa Hideyuki, Senior Program Officer at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, and Euan Graham, Senior Analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.   Robert, Kei, Hideyuki and Euan discuss:  Japan’s strategic approach to the Pacific Island countriesChina’s growing influence in the regionAustralia and its allies’ strategic objectives in the regionOutlook of Japan and its allies’ approach to the region amid US-China rivalry  The following books are recommended by our guests to gain a clearer picture of the topics discussed:  Euan Graham, Australia's Security in China's Shadow, (Abingdon: Routledge for the IISS, 2023), 232pp.Yamamoto Syūgoro, 日日平安 [Hibi Heian], (Tokyo: Shinchōsha, 1965), 480pp.Yamamoto Tsunetomo, translated by William Scott Wilson, 葉隠 [Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai], (Boulder: Shambhala Publications Inc, 2012), 200pp. The original book was written around 1716.Koga Kei and Katada Saori, Japan as a Liminal Power: Evolving Grand Strategies from Meiji to Reiwa (coming soon). Andrew Oros, Asia's Growing Security Strategies of America's Ageing Allies, Adversaries and Partners (coming soon). We hope you enjoy the episode and please follow, rate, and subscribe to Japan Memo on your podcast platform of choice. If you have any comments or questions, please contact us at japanchair@iiss.org.   Date recorded: 31 July 2024  Japan Memo is recorded and produced at the IISS in London.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    43 min
  2. 11 JUL

    Japan’s intelligence capabilities with Professor Richard J Samuels, Professor Kotani Ken and Hosaka Sanshiro

    Robert Ward hosts Richard J Samuels, Ford International Professor of Political Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Kotani Ken, Professor at Nihon University in Japan, and Hosaka Sanshiro, Research Fellow at the International Centre for Defence and Security and PhD student at the University of Tartu.     Robert, Richard, Ken and Sanshiro discuss:   The history of Japanese intelligence agencies Japan’s current intelligence capabilities Intelligence threats faced by Japan and the West Outlook of intelligence operations   The following books are recommended by our guests to gain a clearer picture of the topics discussed:   Tessa Morris-Suzuki, Exodus to North Korea: Shadows from Japan's Cold War, (Lanham, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2007), 302pp.  John W. Dower, Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II, (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2000), 688pp.  Kotani Ken, 日本インテリジェンス史:旧日本軍から公安、内調、NSCまで [Nihon Intelligence Shi: Kyu-nihongun Kara Kōan, Naichō, NSC Made], (Tokyo: Chuo Koron Shinsha, 2022), 296pp.  Michael S. Molasky, 呑めば、都─居酒屋の東京 [Nomeba Miyako – Izakaya No Tokyo], (Tokyo: Chikuma Shobō, 2016), 400pp.   Richard J. Samuels, Special Duty: A History of the Japanese Intelligence Community, (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2019), 384pp.  We hope you enjoy the episode and please follow, rate, and subscribe to Japan Memo on your podcast platform of choice. If you have any comments or questions, please contact us at japanchair@iiss.org.    Date recorded: 21 June 2024   Japan Memo is recorded and produced at the IISS in London.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 6m
  3. 14 MAR

    Japan and the Russia-Ukraine War with Professor Higashino Atsuko, Professor James D.J. Brown and Dr Nigel Gould-Davies

    In the second episode of Japan Memo season 4, Robert Ward hosts Higashino Atsuko, a Professor at the Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Tsukuba, James Brown, a Professor of political science at Temple University, Japan campus, and Dr Nigel Gould-Davies, the IISS Senior Fellow for Russia and Eurasia. Robert, Atsuko, James and Nigel discuss Japan and the Russia-Ukraine war. Topics discussed include:  Japan’s response to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine over the past two years; Japan's possible military aid to Ukraine amid growing aid fatigue among Western allies; Japan’s unflagging support for post-war rebuilding to Ukraine in the wake of the bilateral reconstruction conference in February 2024; Japan’s defence and energy policy amid rising security and geopolitical tensions with Russia   The following books are recommended by our guests to gain a clearer picture of the topics discussed:  Kanji Akagi, Kokusaianzenhoshou ga wakeru gaidobuku, (Japan Association for International Security, 2024), 288 pp. Mazower Mark, Dark Continent: Europe’s Twentieth Century, (Penguin Group, 1999), 512 pp. Muminov Sherzod, Eleven Winters of Discontent: The Siberian Internment and the Making of a New Japan, (Harvard University Press, 2022), 384 pp. Ryunosuke Akutagawa, Rashomon, (KADOKAWA, 1950)    We hope you enjoy the episode and please follow, rate, and subscribe to Japan Memo on the podcast platform of your choice. If you have any comments or questions, please contact us at japanchair@iiss.org.    Date of Recording: 1 March 2024  Japan Memo is recorded and produced at the IISS in London.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    50 min

About

The Japan Memo is a monthly podcast series that analyses why Japan matters in today’s regional and global geopolitical landscape. In each episode, Robert Ward of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Japan Chair Programme, will bring in strategists, experts and practitioners from around the world to examine how Japan is using its diplomatic, economic and military tools to achieve its strategic goals, and what lessons it offers to other countries. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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