The Resurgence of Japan in a Shifting International Order

With the Nikkei index hitting the highest numbers, and Taylor Swift and Messi playing on the same day in Tokyo, much has been made about the resurgence of Japan to global prominence after a few “lost” decades. Is the sun really rising again in Japan, and if so, what does it mean for the U.S.-Japan alliance and the increasingly wobbly international liberal order? This panel session assembles leading experts on Japan to address these questions, focusing on the areas of defense, trade, economic security, democracy, regional cooperation, and global governance.

Speakers:

Christina L. Davis is the Edwin O. Reischauer Professor of Japanese Politics in the Department of Government and Director of the Program on U.S.-Japan Relations at Harvard University. Her research interests include the politics and foreign policy of Japan, East Asia, and the European Union as well as the study of international organizations and trade policy. Her research has been published in leading political science journals. She is the author of Food Fights Over Free Trade: How International Institutions Promote Agricultural Trade Liberalization (Princeton University Press 2003), and Why Adjudicate? Enforcing Trade Rules in the WTO (Princeton University Press 2012, winner of the International Law Best Book award of the International Studies Association, Ohira Memorial Prize, and co-winner of Chadwick Alger Prize). Her most recent book, Discriminatory Clubs: The Geopolitics of International Organizations, was published by Princeton University Press in 2023.  She graduated from Harvard College in 1993, received her PhD in government from Harvard in 2001, and returned to Harvard after 16 years as a professor at Princeton University.

Maiko Ichihara is a Professor in the Graduate School of Law and the School of International and Public Policy, as well as an Assistant Vice President for International Affairs at Hitotsubashi University, Japan. She also serves on the steering committees of the World Movement for Democracy, the East Asia Democracy Forum, and Japan Factcheck Center. Throughout her career, she has undertaken research on international relations, democracy support, Japanese foreign policy, and influence operations. She earned her Ph.D. in political science from George Washington University. Her recent publications include: “How to Tackle Disinformation in Japan: Lessons from the Russia-Ukraine war,” in Jessica Brandt, et al., Impact of Disinformation on Democracy in Asia (Brookings Institution, 2022); “Japanese Democracy After Shinzo Abe,” Journal of Democracy 32-1 (2021); and Japan's International Democracy Assistance as Soft Power: Neoclassical Realist Analysis (New York and London: Routledge, 2017).

Phillip Y. Lipscy is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto, where he is also Chair in Japanese Politics and Global Affairs and the Director of the Centre for the Study of Global Japan at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy. In addition, he is cross-appointed as professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Tokyo. His research addresses substantive topics such as international cooperation, international organizations, the politics of energy and climate change, international relations of East Asia, and the politics of financial crises. He has also published extensively on Japanese politics and foreign policy. Lipscy’s book from Cambridge University Press, Renegotiating the World Order: Institutional Change in International Relations, examines how countries seek greater international influence by reforming or creating international organizations.

Harukata Takenaka is Professor of political science at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) in Tokyo. His key research areas are the role the prime minister in Japanese politics, Japanese external and security policies, and democratization in Pre-war Japan. He holds a PhD from Stanford University and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Tokyo. His recent publications include “Kyokoku Chugoku” to Taijisuru Indo-Taiheiyo Shokoku [Indo-Pacific Nations facing China aspiring to be a “Great Country”](edited) (Tokyo: Chikura Shobo, 2022), “Evolution of Japanese security policy and the House of Councilors,” Japanese Journal of Political Science, 22:2, (June 2021), 96-115, Korona Kiki no Seiji [Politics of Covid 19 Crisis](Tokyo: Chuo Koron Shinsha, 2020), “Expansion of the Japanese prime minister’s power in the Japanese parliamentary system: Transformation of Japanese politics and the institutional reforms,”Asian Survey,59:5:844-869 (September 2019); Failed Democratization in Prewar Japan (Stanford University Press 2014); Sangiin to ha Nanika[What is House of Councillors](Tokyo: Chuokoron Shinsha 2010) (10th Osaragi Jiro Award) 

Yves Tiberghien (Ph.D. Stanford University, 2002; Harvard Academy Scholar 2006; Fulbright Scholar 1996) is a Professor of Political Science and Director Emeritus of the Institute of Asian Research at the University of British Columbia. He is also the Konwakai Chair in Japanese Research and Director of the Center for Japanese Research at UBC. He is currently on study leave from UBC and a visiting professor at the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science (2023-2024). Yves is a Distinguished Fellow at the Asia-Pacific Foundation of Canada and a Senior Fellow at the University of Alberta’s China Institute. He is an International Steering Committee Member at Pacific Trade and Development Conference (PAFTAD) and a visiting professor at Tokyo University and Sciences Po Paris. His research focuses on the comparative political economy of East Asia and on global economic and environmental governance. His latest book is The East Asian Covid-19 Paradox. August 2021. University Press, with work forthcoming on a new book (titled Game-Changer: How Covid-19 Has Reshaped Societies and Politics in East Asia). He is working on two other books, respectively titled Up for Grabs: Disruption, Competition, and the Remaking of the Global Order and Navigating the Age of Disruption: Options in a Shifting Global Order.  He is also leading a research project on the political economy of the twin industrial revolutions (digital/AI and green tech).

Moderator:

Kiyoteru Tsutsui is the Henri H. and Tomoye Takahashi Professor and Senior Fellow in Japanese Studies at Shorenstein APARC, the Director of the Japan Program and Deputy Director at APARC, a senior fellow of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, and Professor of Sociology, all at Stanford University. Tsutsui received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Kyoto University and earned an additional master’s degree and Ph.D. from Stanford’s sociology department in 2002. Tsutsui’s research interests lie in political/comparative sociology, social movements, globalization, human rights, and Japanese society. His most recent publication, Human Rights and the State: The Power of Ideas and the Realities of International Politics (Iwanami Shinsho, 2022), was awarded the 2022 Ishibashi Tanzan Award and the 44th Suntory Prize for Arts and Sciences.