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 countries
• China’s growing influence in the region
• Australia and its allies’ strategic objectives in the region
• Outlook 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.

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.

Robert Ward hosts Iwama Yoko, Professor at Japan's National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS), Guibourg Delamotte, Professor of Political Science at the Japanese Studies Department of the French Institute of Oriental Studies (Inalco), and Dr Alexandra Sakaki, Deputy Head of the Asia Division at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs at Stiftung Wissenschaft and Politik (SWP).

Robert, Yoko, Guibourg and Alexandra discuss Japan and the EU: 

• EU strategy for cooperation in the Indo-Pacific amid Russia’s war against Ukraine
• China's growing footprint in Europe and its implications for the EU's Indo-Pacific strategy
• The development and challenges of enhanced defence cooperation between Japan and the EU
• Implications for the future of the similarity between Japan’s and the EU’s economic security strategies

For more information, transcript and background reading, please visit out website IISS Podcast: Japan Memo.

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: 24 May 2024 

Japan Memo is recorded and produced at the IISS in London. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.