In the past few months, the Japanese government has announced plans to significantly increase its defense budget, develop new military capabilities, and strengthen its ties with security partners.  Some observers see a paradigm shift in Japanese strategy, while others see these developments as more evolutionary than revolutionary. Professor Guibourg Delamote of Inalco and Robert Dujarric of Temple University Japan will discuss these issues and engage in a Q&A session with the audience...

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has given the go-ahead for a major redevelopment of Jingu Gaien, the cluster of sports facilities and green space adjacent to the National Stadium in Sendagaya. The project has recently become a focus of attention in Tokyo, with many people from across the political spectrum speaking out with concerns about the project. The redevelopment plan is made possible by a loosening of height restrictions in the area that was implemented in conjunction with the Olympics, and former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori was involved in conceptualization of the plan. The redevelopment will eliminate nearly a thousand trees, two historic stadiums and several public sports facilities, and put in three high rise office buildings...

Tag Murphy will discuss the origins and the state of the dollar-based order. The Bretton Woods systems collapsed more than half a century ago during the 1971 "Nixon shocks." Since then, there have been countless predictions of the end of the dollar's reign, based on a belief that others (China, Russia, Iran, etc) could establish a "counter-order," the creation of the euro, the declining percentage of world GDP accounted for by the US, and multiple crises since the early 1970s. Yet, 51 years after Richard Nixon's 15 August 1971 speech, the US dollar is still at the center of the world monetary system. Japan, one of the apparent victims of the Nixon Shocks, has played a critical role in this order. As currency markets are facing a stronger dollar and weaker yen, and a host of other challenges, Tag will discuss causes and consequences of dollar hegemony.

Since the mid-19th century, Japan has lived in a region where wars or the risk of major conflicts have been the norm. Japan's current security environment is far less critical than it was in many periods in the past 150 years. However, it has evolved. Some external threats to the country's well-being have gotten less salient, while others have grown more worrisome. During this session, we will seek to shed light on the impact of developments in the past decade, such as the evolution of China's policy, the turmoil in the United States, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We will start with a conversation with Hiroyuki Akita, one of Japan's leading commentators and analysts, with Robert Dujarric of TUJ, followed by Q&A from the audience.

Alex Kerr is a leading authority on traditional Japanese art, culture and aesthetics.While living in Japan off and on since the 1960s, with interludes at Yale University (Japanese Studies) and as a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford, he has seen Japan undergo dramatic change as modernization has increasingly displaced traditional modes of life and transformed the landscape. Living nearby Kyoto in the village of Kameoka, he worked for a number of years at the Omoto-Kyo Shinto Sect, teaching Japanese arts (calligraphy, tea ceremony, Noh). Seeking a deeper connection with Japanese tradition, he took over a 400 year old Shinto shrine in Kameoka and converted it to a residence and, in the Iya valley, restored a 300 year old Minka farmhouse. Both have been acclaimed in architectural magazines as archetypes of how tradition and modernity can be integrated in ways that combine contemporary and traditional elements while being authentic to its history.

Professor Yashiro, one of Japan's leading economists, will look at the results of Abenomics (a term coined to describe Japan's economic policy while Shinzo Abe was premier) and Prime Minister Kishida's plans for what he calls a "New Capitalism."

State-level response to the Covid pandemic have varied significantly, ranging from differences in assessment (testing, diagnostic evaluation), quarantine protocols, vaccination rates, off-label treatment, and public compliance with government directives (mask-wearing, social distancing, isolation). Japan, like many Asian countries, has imposed strict policies with corresponding relatively low infection rates and less mortality than in many other countries. And yet despite general public acceptance of government recommendations, Japan was the slowest among the G-7 countries to implement vaccines, has never done comprehensive testing and is reluctant to fully open immigration to allow for general tourism, continuing to impose strict border control that is out of synch with international trends...

The public, at least in the West, has held fairly static understandings of the concepts of "Freedoms" and "Civil Liberties" for the last few decades, if not centuries. Whether we're talking about the United States' Bill of Rights or the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights, there has been somewhat tacit agreement on the values of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of association, as well as newer ideas like freedom of information and freedom of movement...

YCAPS & the Sasakawa Peace Foundation are pleased to announce the next event in the Community Conversations seminar series in Yokota! This event will feature Dr. Tomonori Yoshizaki. Dr. Yoshizaki will discuss how the war in Ukraine may impact US-Japan bilateral coordination including extended deterrence not only in Europe but also USFJ and the Indo-Pacific.