ICAS : Understanding the 2022 US midterm elections (Online)
Thursday, November 17, 2022 - 09:30 to 10:30
8 November 2022 was the last day of voting for the US midterm elections. These elections reflected the mood of American voters and give us some idea of the future course of American policy and of the political and ideological balance of power in the United States. They will also affect the ability of the Biden Administration to pursue its agenda.
ICAS | New thinking about Japanese security
Monday, October 31, 2022 - 18:30 to 20:00
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.
ICAS : War Crimes and the Japanese Military, 1941-1945
Thursday, October 27, 2022 - 12:00 to 13:30
Japanese soldiers committed many acts of brutality and neglect against Asian and Allied prisoners-of-war and civilians during the Pacific War of 1941-45. Thousands of perpetrators were brought to account for these crimes in Allied tribunals after the conflict and hundreds were sentenced to death. The scholars who comprise this panel focus on the question: why did the Japanese military commit war crimes in the Pacific region on such a scale? Many observers blame the atrocities on supposedly enduring aspects of Japanese culture such as bushido or Shinto-based notions of Japanese superiority. The most compelling explanations for war crimes, however, lie elsewhere: in the circumstances of the war itself and in the culture and pattern of deployment of the Japanese military during the hostilities.
ICAS | Dogs & Demons: Tales from the Dark Side of Japan
Thursday, October 20, 2022 - 12:00 to 13:30
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.
ICAS | The Current Status of LGBTQ+ Rights in China, Singapore & Taiwan
Wednesday, October 19, 2022 - 09:30 to 10:30
The last decade has brought dynamic changes in the status, visibility, and rights of LGBTQ+ people in some parts of Asia, but significant challenges lie ahead.
In August, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced that the government would finally repeal the British colonial era law Section 377A that criminalized sexual intimacy between men in a significant victory for Singaporean LGBTQ+ advocates. But Lee simultaneously stated that the government would introduce a constitutional amendment to prevent same-sex couples from bringing constitutional challenges to laws banning same-sex marriage.
ICAS | The results of Abenomics and Kishida's New Capitalism
Monday, October 17, 2022 - 17:00 to 18:30
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."
ICAS | Surveillance, Race and Resistance
Thursday, September 29, 2022 - 13:40
While slavery in the Americas was among the most shameful and horrific periods in history, Africans and their descendants developed innovative and effective means of resisting through ciphers, signals, and even dance. These can be seen as antecedents for modern technological methods of Black resistance, from the phone networks and codes used during the American civil rights era to encrypted messaging and cell phone videos used by the Black Lives Matter movement. In the first part of this presentation, technologist and EFF Director of Engineering Alexis Hancock will discuss the forms of "coded resistance" used by Black communities to fight oppression...
ICAS | What is 'Japanese' About Japan's Response to Covid?
Tuesday, September 27, 2022 - 12:00
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...
ICAS | Britain’s new prime minister: how did we get here, what should we expect?
Thursday, September 8, 2022 - 19:30
On 5 September, Britain will announce its new prime minister. After a bitter Conservative leadership battle, and with the UK facing rampant inflation, rising poverty, clamours for Scottish independence and increasing acrimonious relations with the EU, what can we expect from the new PM? Do they have the mettle to tackle the UK’s myriad of problems? What will be the impact of Boris Johnson’s legacy of populism and mendacity for his successor? This talk will analyse where Britain’s broken politics goes from here.
ICAS | Concepts of "Freedom" in an Age of Digital Surveillance
Tuesday, September 6, 2022 - 12:00
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...
ICAS | Safety and security of nuclear power plants: Challenges for Ukraine and the world
Tuesday, July 26, 2022 - 22:00 to 23:00
We are facing various crises: the global pandemic, Russia's war, geopolitical changes, economic crises, and regional security threats. Preconditions have changed drastically, and we are at a critical juncture to fundamentally reconsider policies and frameworks to deal with such crises. We need to allocate appropriate resources and policies, through building resilient global communities and knowledge-based resource hubs. GHIPP is strengthening global partnerships by building discussion platforms and sharing knowledge, lessons learned, and visions by creating new regional communities for resilience. For this purpose, GHIPP is conducting a series of online sessions.
ICAS | The Ukraine War's Impacts on the Extended Deterrence: Implications for USFJ
Thursday, July 14, 2022 - 19:00
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.
ICAS | The JMSDF Iwakuni Air Base: An Introductory Overview
Monday, July 11, 2022 - 19:00
YCAPS & the Sasakawa Peace Foundation are pleased to announce the next event in the Community Conversations seminar series in Iwakuni. This event will feature CDR Mariyo Murakami. CDR Murakami (Leader of Flight Division 811,Air Electronic Warfare Squadron 8) will discuss the history and significance of JMSDF Iwakuni Air Base and give an overview of the contemporary role of the Air Base as part of the US-Japan Alliance.
ICAS | History of Japanese Mine Warfare and "Kizuna" of Japan-U.S. Mine Warfare Forces
Wednesday, July 6, 2022 - 19:00
YCAPS & the Sasakawa Peace Foundation are pleased to announce the return of the Community Conversations seminar series in Sasebo. The inaugural event will feature Mr. Yasuhiro Kawakami. Mr. Kawakami (Rear Admiral Ret.) has served 32 years in the JMSDF, primarily in the Mine Warfare and Amphibious Warfare fields. He has also served five times as a commander and four times in Sasebo. He will discuss the history of Japanese Mine Warfare and the close cooperation between the Japan and U.S. Mine Warfare Forces after W.W.Ⅱ.
ICAS | Book Talk: The North Korean Conundrum: Balancing Human Rights and Nuclear Security
Wednesday, December 8, 2021 - 09:30
The North Korean regime is consistently identified as one of the world’s worst human rights abusers. However, the issue of human rights in North Korea is a complex one, intertwined with issues like life in the North Korean police state, inter-Korean relations, denuclearization, access to information in the North, and international cooperation, to name a few.
Minjung Kim and Sean King will discuss aspects of this edited volume and answer questions from the audience. Minjung Kim will focus on her chapter, which deals with “Efforts to Reach North Koreans by South Korean NGOs: then, now, and challenges” and Sean King on his chapter, “Germany’s Lessons for Korea.” They will also address other issues raised in the book.
ICAS | The Political Economy of American Business and China
Thursday, October 21, 2021 - 10:00
In the past decades, China has enjoyed the support of most, though not all, businesses in the liberal democracies that saw the PRC as an unlimited source of profits now or in the future. In recent years and months, the Xi Jinping regime has taken measures that will likely limit opportunities for some foreign interests. These include restrictions on Chinese IPOs in the US, a cracktown on some large Chinese conglomerates (thus also hurting their foreign shareholders), and the rapid demise of the rule of law in Hong Kong. At the same time, rising tensions between the United States and China may force some to choose between China and the US.
To examine the evolving political economy of China’s relations with the outside world, especially the United States, we will have a conversation followed by a Q&A session with Clyde Prestowitz.
ICAS | The End of the LDP As We Know It
Thursday, October 7, 2021 - 09:30 to 11:00
A half a year ago, the prospect of an LDP presidential election did not inspire flights of the imagination. After all, what could break the hammerlock the top three party factions – the Hosoda, the Aso and the Nikai – had upon the process of selecting the party leader? Who or what could outmaneuver the wily LDP Secretary-General Nikai Toshihiro, whom two prime ministers in a row found themselves powerless to budge from his post at the apex of the party’s secretariat?
Over the summer of 2021, however, several factors became catalysts for changes in the party’s internal power structures. A presidential campaign like any other had unfolded, with the faction leaders and the party’s senior officials left gasping as erstwhile subordinates have run away with the narrative and the initiative. So many assumptions about how the LDP “works” have been challenged that the unprecedented situation of half of the candidates being women has been largely subsumed.
ICAS | Remembering Ambassador Robert M. Orr
Monday, October 4, 2021 - 10:00 to 11:00
Ambassador Orr had a remarkable career. After branching out from academia, where he taught at Temple University Japan and founded the Institute of Pacific-Rim Studies, he quickly ascended with a career in industry including a five-year tenure as President of Boeing Japan. He held various senior level posts with Motorola in Europe and Japan, in Japan culminating as Vice President and Director of Government Relations. From 2007 to 2010, he served as chairman of the board of the Panasonic Foundation.
In September 2010, Ambassador Orr was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the United States Executive Director with the rank of Ambassador to the Asian Development Bank. He served as ambassador until December 31, 2015.
ICAS | The Carlos Ghosn Saga with Régis Arnaud and William Sposato
Tuesday, September 7, 2021 - 09:00 to 10:30
With the authors of two recent biographies of Carlos Ghosn, we will discuss his role in the remaking of the Japanese and global car industry and the downfall of the former CEO of Renault and Nissan.
ICAS | August 1945 in the Asia-Pacific Theater: From Total War to Nuclear War
Friday, August 6, 2021 - 20:00
The year 1945 was probably the worst year of the war. Millions of lives were lost in the Götterdämmerung that was the downfall of the Axis. These were not just military deaths. For the first time in the history of modern warfare, the deaths of civilians exceeded those of soldiers. The culmination of the ever-increasing brutality of WWII was in the two nuclear bombs that exploded over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But the slaughter started much earlier, with civilians targeted in Nanjing, Warsaw, London, Manila, Hamburg, Tokyo, and many other places. Both the Allies and the Axis targeted non-combatants as a deliberate policy, abandoning earlier efforts to only strike military targets. In Japan, the United States Army Air Force burned whole cities in an effort to “break Japanese morale” with the use of the new and destructive weapons like napalm. At the same time, Japanese atrocities on the continent were continuing right up to and beyond the official end of the war. Why did governments that had previously decried…