August 29, 2023
Dear Friends,
As we start a new academic year, I would like to update you on activities and upcoming plans of the Program on US-Japan Relations. In July, we collaborated with the Keizai Koho Center and the Harvard Club of Japan to hold a symposium in Tokyo, on the theme “Geopolitical Risks and the Future of Capitalism: How Should Japanese Firms Respond?” The event was a great success as we brought together around 250 participants, including Program affiliates, Harvard alumni and summer intern students living in Japan, and Japan’s business community. Foreign Minister Hayashi gave keynote remarks, and panels engaged in discussion of critical issues. We are exploring the idea of holding an annual summer symposium in Japan.
For the coming fall, we have lined up exciting speakers for our weekly hybrid seminar series, and we hope you can join us in person or online. I look forward to kicking off the series on September 11th in an event featuring highlights from my new book, -- Discriminatory Clubs: The Geopolitics of International Organizations. It is my privilege to engage in a conversation with Ambassador Koji Tomita on October 11, and welcome former Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda as the Program’s 37th Distinguished Visitor on November 6. Over the year, we will host outstanding speakers to share their research and discuss a wide range of topics.
We have an impressive group of 17 affiliates joining us this year including scholars and leaders from government and business. They bring valuable expertise and networks to Harvard on issues such as trade, innovation, and diplomacy. Through our events and community engagement, we hope to expand interest in studying Japan here at Harvard. Under the leadership of Harvard College students, the Harvard Undergraduate Japan Policy Network (HUJPN) is building connections among undergraduates on campus. The Vogel juku upholds the tradition started by Ezra Vogel to promote debate among the wider community of students from Japan in the Boston area. We look forward to continuing our partnership with these student-led initiatives.
We are fortunate to receive generous support from the Japan Foundation for a third year, to continue our project on “Policy Innovations in Crises: New Pathways for Japan-U.S. Cooperation.” In the fall semester, Our Policy Innovations Fellow Dr. Matthew Brummer will teach the course, “Science, Technology, and National Security: Japan in Global Perspective.” Together with political science colleagues around the country and in Japan, we collaborate on the Japanese Politics Online Seminar Series (JPOSS), which provides an opportunity for sharing the latest research for a rigorous exchange of ideas and feedback.
Please check out the latest research on our website, which features our Occasional Paper Series of selected papers by Program affiliates, blogs about recent seminars, and a publications webpage listing recent work by Program affiliated scholars. With nearly 700 alumni, we hope to help you stay connected through our Alumni Directory, where you can find past Affiliates by name, year, and institution. For updates, please subscribe to our weekly newsletter and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and new Instagram account. Our past events are available on SoundCloud and YouTube.
All of this would not be possible without the hard work by Executive Director Shinju Fujihira, Program Coordinator Jennifer Crist, Research Assistant Sophie Welsh, and Staff Assistant Megan Hodge. We are grateful to the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs and the Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies for the continued partnership to support our activities.
May you all have a fantastic start to the new academic year and discover new opportunities to learn and share knowledge about Japan.
Sincerely,
Christina
Christina L. Davis
Director, Program on U.S.-Japan Relations
Edwin O. Reischauer Professor of Japanese Politics
Harvard University