This lecture is the final installment in the Japan Program's spring 2025 seminar series, Reexaminations of Major Issues in Modern Japanese Politics and Diplomacy.

Session 6: Japan's Official Development Assistance

Japan began its Official Development Assistance in 1954, only 9 years after its defeat, and became No. 1 donor in the 1990s. The amount of ODA began to decline in 1997, reaching half of its peak, and Japan is now No. 3 in the world. However, Japan developed various unique approaches in its ODA. Now, as the US withdraws from ODA and the conflict between advanced and developing countries becomes tense, Japan’s ODA may provide unique approaches to developing countries.

Join us for our 2025 spring quarter seminar series featuring Shorenstein APARC Visiting Scholar and Japan Program Fellow Dr. Shinichi Kitaoka, Emeritus professor at the University of Tokyo and a distinguished scholar in modern Japanese politics, as he presents new interpretations of six major issues in modern Japanese politics based on recent studies in Japan and his own experience as the Ambassador to the United Nations and the President of Japan International Cooperation Agency.

This seminar series re-examines several important and well-known issues in modern Japanese politics and diplomacy from the late 19th century to the 21st century based on the lecturer’s recent research and experience within the government. Topics include Meiji Restoration as a democratic revolution; the resilience of Taisho Democracy; the military as a bureaucracy; surrender and the American occupation; the Yoshida Doctrine and the regime of 1955; the development of ODA policy; and the recent development of security policy in the 21st century.

Catered dinner will be served at seminar sessions.

Speaker:

Shinichi Kitaoka is the former President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA: 2015-2022) and Emeritus Professor, University of Tokyo. Previous posts include President of the International University of Japan (2012-2015), professor at University of Tokyo (1997-2012), Professor of National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) (2012-), Professor of Graduate Schools for Law and Politics, the University of Tokyo (1997-2004, 2006-2012), Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Deputy Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations (2004-2006), and Professor of College of Law and Politics, Rikkyo University (1985-1997).

Dr. Kitaoka’s specialty is modern Japanese politics and diplomacy. He obtained his BA (1971) and PhD (1976) from the University of Tokyo. He is also Emeritus Professor at Rikkyo University. He received many awards including the Medal with Purple Ribbon for his academic achievements in 2011.

This lecture is the fourth installment in the Japan Program's spring 2025 seminar series, Reexaminations of Major Issues in Modern Japanese Politics and Diplomacy.

Session 4: The Regime of 1955

In 1955, the Liberal Democratic Party and the Japan Socialist party were formed While the former led Japan for 38 years, the latter remained out of power. The reasons of this rivalry and the consequences of this system will be discussed.

Join us for our 2025 spring quarter seminar series featuring Shorenstein APARC Visiting Scholar and Japan Program Fellow Dr. Shinichi Kitaoka, Emeritus professor at the University of Tokyo and a distinguished scholar in modern Japanese politics, as he presents new interpretations of six major issues in modern Japanese politics based on recent studies in Japan and his own experience as the Ambassador to the United Nations and the President of Japan International Cooperation Agency.

This seminar series re-examines several important and well-known issues in modern Japanese politics and diplomacy from the late 19th century to the 21st century based on the lecturer’s recent research and experience within the government. Topics include Meiji Restoration as a democratic revolution; the resilience of Taisho Democracy; the military as a bureaucracy; surrender and the American occupation; the Yoshida Doctrine and the regime of 1955; the development of ODA policy; and the recent development of security policy in the 21st century.

Catered dinner will be served at seminar sessions.

Speaker:

Shinichi Kitaoka is the former President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA: 2015-2022) and Emeritus Professor, University of Tokyo. Previous posts include President of the International University of Japan (2012-2015), professor at University of Tokyo (1997-2012), Professor of National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) (2012-), Professor of Graduate Schools for Law and Politics, the University of Tokyo (1997-2004, 2006-2012), Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Deputy Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations (2004-2006), and Professor of College of Law and Politics, Rikkyo University (1985-1997).

Dr. Kitaoka’s specialty is modern Japanese politics and diplomacy. He obtained his BA (1971) and PhD (1976) from the University of Tokyo. He is also Emeritus Professor at Rikkyo University. He received many awards including the Medal with Purple Ribbon for his academic achievements in 2011.

This lecture is the first installment in the Japan Program's spring 2025 seminar series, Reexaminations of Major Issues in Modern Japanese Politics and Diplomacy.

Session 3: Surrender and Occupation

What was the purpose of the United States? What did unconditional surrender mean? Why were the atomic bombs dropped? How was the constitution written and the Tokyo International Tribunal conducted? The legacies of occupation will also be discussed.

Join us for our Spring Quarter Seminar Series featuring Shorenstein APARC Visiting Scholar and Japan Program Fellow Dr. Shinichi Kitaoka, Emeritus professor at the University of Tokyo and a distinguished scholar in modern Japanese politics, presents his new interpretations of six major issues in modern Japanese politics based on recent studies in Japan and his own experience as the Ambassador to the United Nations and the President of Japan International Cooperation Agency.

This seminar series re-examines several important and well-known issues in modern Japanese politics and diplomacy from the late 19th century to the 21st century based upon the lecturer’s recent research and experience within the government. Major topics are, Meiji Restoration as a democratic revolution, resilience of Taisho Democracy, Military as a bureaucracy, Surrender and the American Occupation, Yoshida Doctrine and the Regime of 1955, Development of ODA policy, and recent development of Security Policy in the 21st Century.

Catered dinner will be served at seminar sessions.

Speaker:

Shinichi Kitaoka is the former President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA: 2015-2022) and Emeritus Professor, University of Tokyo. Previous posts include President of the International University of Japan (2012-2015), professor at University of Tokyo (1997-2012), Professor of National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) (2012-), Professor of Graduate Schools for Law and Politics, the University of Tokyo (1997-2004, 2006-2012), Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Deputy Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations (2004-2006), and Professor of College of Law and Politics, Rikkyo University (1985-1997).

Dr. Kitaoka’s specialty is modern Japanese politics and diplomacy. He obtained his B.A. (1971) and his Ph.D. (1976) both from the University of Tokyo. He is Emeritus Professor of the University of Tokyo and Rikkyo University. He received many awards including the Medal with Purple Ribbon for his academic achievements in 2011.

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As the United States redefines its role in the world, its closest ally, Japan, gains new prominence while facing new pressures, new challenges, and new opportunities. This symposium features leading experts on issues that concern the American, Japanese, and global public in this turbulent time. They will explore the evolving U.S.-Japan ties from various angles and engage in a wide-ranging conversation spanning the liberal international order, global trade, DEI, civil society — and baseball.
 

Agenda

Session 1 – Global Democracy, Foreign Aid, and Regional Security: As the U.S. Pulls Back, Will Tokyo Step Up?

Larry Diamond, Mosbacher Senior Fellow of Global Democracy at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies

Shinichi Kitaoka, former Japanese Ambassador to the United Nations, former former President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA

Kiyoteru Tsutsui, Director, Japan Program at Shorenstein APARC; Stanford Professor of Sociology

Session 2 – How Tariffs and Trade Wars are Reshaping the Indo-Pacific

Wendy Cutler, Vice President at the Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI), former Acting Deputy United States Trade Representative

Peter Wonacott, Managing Editor, Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability; former Wall Street Journal Deputy Washington Bureau Chief

Session 3 — The Future of DEI, ESG, SDGs: Will Japan Follow the U.S. or Stay the Course?

Keiko Tashiro, Deputy President, Head of Sustainability, Daiwa Securities Group Inc.

Gayle Peterson, Associate Fellow, Saïd School of Business, University of Oxford

Patricia Bromley, Co-Director, Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society

Session 4 — Redefining the Relationship Through Civil Society: Burden Sharing, Knowledge Sharing, Picking up the Slack

Mike Berkowitz, Executive Director, Democracy Funders Network,

Jacob M. Schlesinger, President & CEO, United States-Japan Foundation

Session 5 — Diamond Diplomacy Redux: Baseball as a Bilateral Bridge

Stan Kasten, President & CEO, Los Angeles Dodgers

Yuriko Gamo Romer, Director/Producer, Diamond Diplomacy documentary

Speakers

Larry Diamond is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and the Mosbacher Senior Fellow in Global Democracy at Stanford's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI). He chairs the Hoover Institution Project on Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Region. He is the founding co-editor of the Journal of Democracy and serves as a senior consultant at the International Forum for Democratic Studies of the National Endowment for Democracy. His research focuses on democratic trends and conditions around the world and on policies and reforms to defend and advance democracy. During 2002–03, he served as a consultant to the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and was a contributing author of its report Foreign Aid in the National Interest.

Shinichi Kitaoka is a Shorenstein APARC visiting scholar and Japan Program fellow. He was president of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA: 2015-2022) and is an emeritus professor at the University of Tokyo. Previous posts include president of the International University of Japan (2012-2015), professor at University of Tokyo (1997-2012), professor of the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) (2012-), professor of Graduate Schools for Law and Politics, the University of Tokyo (1997-2004, 2006-2012), ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary, deputy permanent representative of Japan to the United Nations (2004-2006), and professor of the College of Law and Politics, Rikkyo University (1985-1997). His specialty is modern Japanese politics and diplomacy. He is a former member of the Board of Trustees of the United States-Japan Foundation.

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. His research interests lie in political/comparative sociology, social movements, globalization, human rights, and Japanese society. His current projects include studies of populism and the future of democracy, global expansion of corporate social responsibility and its impact on corporate behavior, Japan’s public diplomacy, and perceptions of Japan in the world. He is a fellow in the United States-Japan Foundation's U.S.-Japan Leadership Program network.

Wendy Cutler is vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI) and the managing director of the Washington, D.C. office. She focuses on leading initiatives that address challenges related to trade, investment, and innovation, as well as women’s empowerment in Asia. She joined ASPI after nearly three decades as a diplomat and negotiator in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), where she also served as acting deputy U.S. trade representative. During her USTR career, she worked on a range of bilateral, regional, and multilateral trade negotiations and initiatives, including the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, U.S.-China negotiations, and the WTO Financial Services negotiations. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of the United States-Japan Foundation.

Peter Wonacott is managing editor of a new, global-facing sustainability publication being developed at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. He previously worked for three decades at The Wall Street Journal, where he was a correspondent in China, a senior correspondent in Pakistan and India, chief of the Africa bureau, chief of the Middle East bureau, and deputy chief of Washington coverage. He spent a year at the Johns Hopkins University-/Nanjing University Center for U.S.-China Studies and is fluent in Mandarin.

Keiko Tashiro is deputy president at Daiwa Securities Group, a position she has held since 2019. She currently serves as the Group’s head of Sustainability, Financial Literacy and Education, Securities Asset Management, and Think Tank functions. She has held various positions at Daiwa, including overseas assignments in Singapore, London, and New York. Outside of the firm, she serves as vice chairman at the Japan Association of Corporate Executive, a trustee of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) foundation, a member of the Harvard Business School Japan Advisory Board, and a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Responsive Financial Systems. She is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the United States-Japan Foundation.

Gayle Peterson is associate fellow at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford and senior managing director of pfc social impact advisors. She directs Oxford's Impact Investing Programme and the Social Finance Programme. She has two decades of experience as a strategist, philanthropist, and advisor to social investors worldwide and has managed and assessed more than $15 billion in philanthropic and social investments to alleviate poverty, mitigate climate change, promote gender and financial inclusion, and build the capacity of new leaders in the field of social finance. She is currently leading a global case and film series, Ten Years in the Making: Japan’s Impact Economy, examining the role of philanthropy, public, and private sectors in addressing Japan’s most complex socio-economic challenges.  

Patricia Bromley is associate professor in the Graduate School of Education, the Doerr School of Sustainability, and (by courtesy) Sociology at Stanford University. She also directs the Scandinavian Consortium for Organizational Research (SCANCOR) and is co-director of the Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society (PACS). She teaches courses related to sustainable development, nonprofit organizations, and global education policy. Her research examines the expansive societal effects of the rise and globalization of a liberal world culture as well as contemporary challenges to that order, such as growing restrictions on civil society organizations. Much of her current work takes place in the Global Civil Society and Sustainable Development Lab in PACS. Current research includes multiple projects related to sustainable development, education, organizations, and civil society.

Mike Berkowitz is co-founder & principal at Third Plateau, where he leads the firm’s Democracy practice and works across its Philanthropic Management and Jewish Community Impact portfolios. He serves as executive director of the Democracy Funders Network, a cross-ideological learning and action community for donors concerned about the health of American democracy. He is also co-founder of Patriots & Pragmatists, a network and convening space through which civic leaders and influencers debate, envision, and realize a brighter future for American democracy. He is a senior advisor to the Pritzker Innovation Fund, which supports the development and advancement of paradigm-shifting ideas to address the world’s most wicked problems, with a primary focus on climate and energy and on U.S. democracy. 

Jacob M. Schlesinger is president and CEO of the United States-Japan Foundation, an organization that gives grants and runs a fellowship program dedicated to bolstering relations between the two countries. Schlesinger previously worked at The Wall Street Journal for more than 30 years as a reporter and editor in Washington, D.C., Tokyo, and Detroit. He was a fellow at Stanford’s Asia-Pacific Research Center from 1994-1996 and returned to Stanford in 2021 as a fellow at the Distinguished Careers Institute, where he studied the threats and challenges to democracy, in the U.S. and around the world.  

Stan Kasten is president & CEO of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team, a position he has held since 2012. He has been a member of numerous ownership committees in Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, and the National Hockey League, and is a former trustee of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. In 1999, he became the first person to hold the title of president of three different teams in three different major sports simultaneously, doing so with MLB’s Atlanta Braves, the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks, and the NHL’s Atlanta Thrashers. He currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Professional Women’s Hockey League, founded in 2023. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the United States-Japan Foundation.

Yuriko Gamo Romer is an award-winning director based in San Francisco. Her current documentary project, Diamond Diplomacy, explores the relationship between the United States and Japan through a shared love of baseball. (That project was funded in part with a United States-Japan Foundation grant.) She directed and produced Mrs. Judo: Be Strong, Be Gentle, Be Beautiful, a biographical documentary about Keiko Fukuda, the first woman to attain the 10th-degree black belt in judo. Her short films include Reflection, Kids Will be Kids, Sunnyside of the Slope, and Fusion and Friend Ships, a short historical animation about John Manjiro, the inadvertent Japanese immigrant rescued by an American whaling captain.

This lecture is the first installment in the Japan Program's spring 2025 seminar series, Reexaminations of Major Issues in Modern Japanese Politics and Diplomacy.

Session 1: Meiji Restoration 

Meiji Restoration, or revolution, was not only the establishment of a centralized government but also a democratic revolution in terms of Japanese people's wider participation across classes and regions.

Join us for our 2025 spring quarter seminar series featuring Shorenstein APARC Visiting Scholar and Japan Program Fellow Dr. Shinichi Kitaoka, Emeritus professor at the University of Tokyo and a distinguished scholar in modern Japanese politics, as he presents new interpretations of six major issues in modern Japanese politics based on recent studies in Japan and his own experience as the Ambassador to the United Nations and the President of Japan International Cooperation Agency.

This seminar series re-examines several important and well-known issues in modern Japanese politics and diplomacy from the late 19th century to the 21st century based on the lecturer’s recent research and experience within the government. Topics include Meiji Restoration as a democratic revolution; the resilience of Taisho Democracy; the military as a bureaucracy; surrender and the American occupation; the Yoshida Doctrine and the regime of 1955; the development of ODA policy; and the recent development of security policy in the 21st century.

Catered dinner will be served at seminar sessions.

Speaker:

Shinichi Kitaoka is the former President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA: 2015-2022) and Emeritus Professor, University of Tokyo. Previous posts include President of the International University of Japan (2012-2015), professor at University of Tokyo (1997-2012), Professor of National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) (2012-), Professor of Graduate Schools for Law and Politics, the University of Tokyo (1997-2004, 2006-2012), Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Deputy Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations (2004-2006), and Professor of College of Law and Politics, Rikkyo University (1985-1997).

Dr. Kitaoka’s specialty is modern Japanese politics and diplomacy. He obtained his BA (1971) and PhD (1976) from the University of Tokyo. He is also Emeritus Professor at Rikkyo University. He received many awards including the Medal with Purple Ribbon for his academic achievements in 2011.

As Japan faces a rapid population decline and a growing sense of national stagnation, how can its youths cultivate high aspirations and pursue a roadmap to achieve them? How can educators nurture globally competitive talents across Japanese economy, politics, culture, and sports?

Hanamaki Higashi High School, located in the small city of Hanamaki in Iwate Prefecture, has gained national and international recognition for producing top baseball talents, such as Shohei Ohtani (Dodgers), Yusei Kikuchi (Angels), and Rintaro Sasaki (Stanford Cardinal). What sets the high school’s baseball program apart?

The Japan Program at Stanford's Shorenstein APARC is excited to welcome Mr. Hiroshi Sasaki, the renowned head coach of Hanamaki Higashi High School’s baseball team, as he discusses his philosophy that “Assumptions make the possible impossible” and shares how he has built a winning team while nurturing individual growth — a challenge in Japan’s collective-oriented society. Join us and hear Coach Sasaki’s insights into developing motivation and equipping Japan's next generation with the mindset and strategies to achieve their goals.

Agenda

1:00 PM                                    Check-in opens in Encina Hall Lobby

1:30 PM - 3:30 PM                Documentary Screening of "Koshien" with opening remarks from Ema Yamazaki

4:00 PM - 6:00 PM                Keynote and conversation with Hiroshi Sasaki

Keynote Speaker:

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Hiroshi Sasaki - After graduating from Iwate Prefectural Kurosawajiri-Kita High School, Hiroshi Sasaki went on to Kokushikan University and coached at Yokohama Hayato High School before being transferred to Hanamaki-Higashi High School in 2000. In 2000, he was transferred to Hanamaki-Higashi High School, where he served as an advisor for the Badminton and Girls Softball teams before becoming the baseball coach in 2002. In his fourth year at the helm, he led the team to its first appearance in the Koshien Tournament in 2005, a runner-up finish in the Senbatsu Tournament in the spring of 2009, and a top-four finish in the summer Koshien Tournament. Since then, he has led the team to numerous national tournaments and made great strides, while at the same time nurturing many of his students to become promising professionals and professional players. His success with MLB players Yusei Kikuchi (LA Angels) and Shohei Ohtani (LA Dodgers) and his personality have become the talk of the world, and many people are interested in learning about his high school training methods.

• He was a coach for the U.S.-Japan High School Team (2009)
• He was awarded the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's Outstanding Teacher Award (2011)
• The 12th Japan Sports Academy Grand Prize (2021)

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.

Documentary Introductory Remarks:

Ema Ryan Yamazaki was recently nominated for an Academy Award for her short documentary film INSTRUMENTS OF A BEATING HEART which follows a group of Japanese 1st grade students on the journey in performing "Ode to Joy." She is also the Editor of Shiori Ito's BLACK BOX DIARIES, which was also nominated for the Academy Awards in the feature documentary category. Raised in Osaka by a Japanese mother and British father, Ema grew up navigating between Japanese and Western cultures. Having studied filmmaking at New York University, she uses her unique storytelling perspective as an insider and outsider in Japan. In 2017, Ema’s first feature documentary, MONKEY BUSINESS: THE ADVENTURES OF CURIOUS GEORGE’S CREATORS was released worldwide after raising over $186,000 on Kickstarter. In 2019, Ema’s second feature documentary about the phenomenon of high school baseball in Japan, KOSHIEN: JAPAN’S FIELD OF DREAMS, premiered at DOC NYC. In 2020, the film aired on ESPN, and was released theatrically in Japan. It was a New York Times recommendation for international streaming and featured on the Criterion Channel. Ema's latest documentary feature, THE MAKING OF A JAPANESE, follows one year in a Japanese public school. 
 

An enduring puzzle in comparative politics is why voters in some democracies continuously support dominant parties in elections, and whether their support is based on policy congruence or non-policy factors like valence. Smith and his team consider the preeminent case of a dominant party—Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)—and investigate whether voters’ support for its policies can explain its recent landslide election victories. They first introduce a new measurement strategy to infer individuals’ utility for parties’ policy platforms from conjoint experiments. Unlike most other uses of conjoint designs, their approach quantifies individual preferences for entire platforms rather than the average effect of any one component. Using this measure, they then show that many voters supported the LDP in the 2017 and 2021 elections despite preferring the opposition’s policies. To understand what accounts for this disconnect, Smith and his team experimentally manipulate party label and decompose its effect, revealing that trust is an important non-policy factor motivating LDP voters. Together, their findings support the argument that the LDP’s recent dominance can be attributed to its valence advantage over the opposition rather than voters’ support for its policies.

This event is part of APARC's Contemporary Asia Seminar Series.

Daniel M. Smith is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania. His research interests cover a range of topics in comparative politics and Japanese politics, with a core focus on elections and democratic representation. He is the author of Dynasties and Democracy: The Inherited Incumbency Advantage in Japan (Stanford University Press, 2018), and articles appearing in the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, The Journal of Politics, and Comparative Political Studies, among other journals and edited volumes. He also co-organizes the Japanese Politics Online Seminar Series (JPOSS), and co-edits the Japan Decides election series.