Stanford University

Japan’s Top Envoy to the U.S. Discusses the State of Japan Studies in Higher Education with Stanford and UC Berkeley Experts

Authors
Michael Breger
News Type
News
Date
Paragraphs

On March 22, 2022, APARC's Japan Program welcomed a delegation from the Embassy of Japan in the United States and the Consulate-General of Japan in San Francisco, including Ambassador Koji Tomita and Consul-General Hiroshi Kawamura, who met with a joint panel of scholars and administrators from Stanford and the University of California, Berkeley for a discussion about fostering a greater understanding of Japan studies in the United States.

APARC Deputy Director and Japan Program Director Kiyoteru Tsutsui presented data on enrollment and employment statistics for Japanese studies in higher education. According to the report, Japanese studies have been in a slow state of decline since the late 1980s, when many in the United States viewed Japan as an economic threat and the country was not as well-understood as it is today. Despite this decline, students today are still very interested in studying Japan and are eager to visit the country.

Naomi Funahashi, Manager of the Reischauer Scholars Program and Teacher Professional Development at the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE), presented outcomes from SPICE's outreach efforts and promotion of Japanese studies in the K-14 context. Funahashi indicated strong interest in and engagement with SPICE curricular units focused on Japan and with its local student programs in six regions, one university, and two high schools in Japan.

Sign up for APARC newsletters to receive our experts' analysis and commentary. 

Ambassador Tomita
Ambassador Tomita
Professor Kiyoteru Tsutsui
Kiyoteru Tsutsui
Consul-General Kawamura
Consul-General Kawamura
Junko Habu
Junko Habu
The delegation discusses Japan studies in the U.S.
Full Group

Professor Junko Habu, Chair of the Center for Japanese Studies (CJS) and Professor of Anthropology at UC Berkeley, along with Kumi Sawada Hadler, Program Director of CJS, described logistical challenges Japan scholars have faced during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the inability to access the country under lockdown, and indicated that, across the board, universities are not providing as much support for Japanese studies as they used to, especially in terms of endowed faculty positions and departmental "slots" specifically for Japan specialists.

Ambassador Tomita and Consul-General Kawamura agreed that more support was needed to bolster scholarships of Japan. Ambassador Tomita stated that over his long career, he has seen the theoretical focus of Japan studies in the United States shift away from bilateral relations between the two countries toward the region at large. He noted that the public discussion is increasingly directed at Japan as part of a broader complex of nations in East Asia. Consul-General Kawamura indicated that the pandemic has posed a host of challenges for his office but that Japan will continue to open its doors to scholars in the future. 

The meeting concluded with a reaffirmation of the longstanding and crucial relationship between the two nations and of the importance of Japan studies in the United States in fostering fruitful collaboration between the two nations. 

Read More

Protesters hold signs and chant slogans during a Black Lives Matter peaceful march in Tokyo.
Q&As

New Book by Stanford Sociologist Kiyoteru Tsutsui Probes the Decoupling of Policy and Practice in Global Human Rights

In his new book, Shorenstein APARC’s Japan Program Director Kiyoteru Tsutsui explores the paradox underlying the global expansion of human rights and Japan’s engagement with human rights ideas and instruments. Japan, he says, has an opportunity to become a leader in human rights in Asia and in the world.
New Book by Stanford Sociologist Kiyoteru Tsutsui Probes the Decoupling of Policy and Practice in Global Human Rights
A man cycles past a security fence outside the New National Stadium, the main stadium for the Tokyo Olympics, on June 23, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan
Q&As

The Long and Winding Road to the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics

While public support in Japan has been lackluster for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, the mood may change once the games start – provided no major public health incidents and other unfortunate accidents occur, says Stanford sociologist Kiyoteru Tsutsui.
The Long and Winding Road to the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics
Photo of Charles Crabtree
News

Charles Crabtree Appointed as a Visiting Assistant Professor with the Japan Program at APARC

Crabtree, an assistant professor at Dartmouth College, researches discrimination in politics, particularly in Japan.
Charles Crabtree Appointed as a Visiting Assistant Professor with the Japan Program at APARC
Hero Image
Delegation
Left to right: Kumi Sawada Hadler, Professor Junko Habu, Ambassador Koji Tomita, Professor Kiyoteru Tsutsui, Consul-General Hiroshi Kawamura, Naomi Funahashi | Michael Breger
All News button
1
Subtitle

At an in-person meeting of a joint delegation from Japan's Embassy to the United States and Consulate-General of Japan in San Francisco with a panel of experts from Stanford and UC Berkeley, Japanese Ambassador Koji Tomita stressed the importance of bilateral academic collaboration in the continual development of the U.S.-Japan partnership.

Yasumasa Yamamoto

Shorenstein APARC
Stanford University
Encina Hall, E301
Stanford,  CA  94305-6055

1
Visiting Scholar at APARC, 2022-23

Yasumasa Yamamoto joined the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) as visiting scholar starting the spring of 2022.  While at APARC, Yamamoto worked with Professor Kiyoteru Tsutsui and conducting research on how to stimulate innovation in Japan, learning from the experiences of Silicon Valley companies, with a focus on sociological views on innovation, business, and social impact.

Hide publication sections
Off

New Book by Stanford Sociologist Kiyoteru Tsutsui Probes the Decoupling of Policy and Practice in Global Human Rights

Authors
Noa Ronkin
News Type
Q&As
Date
Paragraphs

Since World War II, there have been significant advances in the implementation and enforcement of human rights norms. Yet despite the proliferation of human rights law at the international level, the protection of human rights remains one of the most elusive goals of the international community. To what extent does international human rights law affect government human rights practice?

This question, closely related to politics and state compliance, is a source of debates between mainstream international relations scholars and international legal scholars. It is also one of the primary concerns of a new book by Stanford Professor of Sociology Kiyoteru Tsutsui. Titled Human Rights and the State: The Power of Ideas and the Reality of International Politics and available in Japanese from publishing company Iwanami Shoten, the book explores the dynamics of the global diffusion of universal human rights and the establishment of international human rights institutions, assesses the impacts of these ideas and instruments on domestic politics around the world, and examines how Japan has engaged with them.

Here, Tsutsui talks about some of his hypotheses and findings. Tsutsui is a Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and the Henri H. and Tomoye Takahashi Professor and Senior Fellow in Japanese Studies at Shorenstein APARC. He also serves as director of the Japan Program at APARC and deputy director of the Center.

Sign up for APARC newsletters to receive our experts' commentary and analysis.

How did you become involved in studying international human rights?

I was originally interested in probing why there are so many ethnic conflicts in the world. As I looked at some of the data, I learned that ethnic conflicts are on the rise regardless of the countries’ wealth, religion, region, political system, and so on. I suspected the cause of this near-universal rise in ethnic conflicts was an element that was spreading globally and theorized it might be human rights principles. Human rights ideas have been expanding globally, and they tell subjugated populations such as ethnic minorities that they deserve more rights and empower them into political mobilization. Governments typically reject these claims, leading to conflict between the states and the minority groups, which are often ethnic groups.

This prompted me to examine how human rights ideas evolved over time, became enshrined in key international human rights treaties, and shaped domestic politics across the world.

States that committed to human rights without thinking about the consequences have to face a world in which their violations can become a real liability for them, a world that they helped create with their empty promises for human rights.
Kiyoteru Tsutsui

Your new book examines the paradox of the global diffusion of universal human rights. Could you explain this paradox and its origins?

The main paradox here is that states have unwittingly promoted universal human rights to a near-sacred status when these principles do nothing but constrain their sovereignty. I should note that throughout the history of human rights, it was civil society that pressed states hard to establish human rights and limit their arbitrary exercise of power. Gradually, civil society actors expanded their vision of rights-holders such that it’s not just Christians, whites, and men but also non-Christians, non-whites, and women who are seen as deserving of rights, and that universe of obligations expanded to include all humanity by the time of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. States resisted this process every step of the way but had to make concessions to legitimize their authority and, in the era of World Wars, to mobilize the public toward war efforts. When women contributed to domestic mobilization for World War I in Europe or when Black people contributed to World War II in the United States, the governments’ arguments for discriminatory treatments against them began to lose legitimacy.

Then, as many human rights treaties emerged since the 1960s, states across the globe ratified these treaties in droves, often to deflect criticisms against their domestic human rights practices. The Cold War context gave them a false sense of security, as they thought that these treaties are toothless and if anything happens, either the United States or the Soviet Union would protect them from serious sanctions. This may have been an accurate calculation at the time, but the large number of states parties to these treaties elevated the legitimacy of human rights norms enshrined in these treaties, making human rights a near orthodoxy.

The end of the Cold War enabled the United Nations to engage in human rights activities free from Cold War constraints, and now those states that committed to human rights without thinking about the consequences have to face a world in which their violations can become a real liability for them, a world that they helped create with their empty promises for human rights. All these miscalculations by states constitute this paradox, what I have called in a co-authored paper the paradox of empty promises.

Portrait of Kiyoteru Tsutsui and 3D mockup cover of his book 'Human Rights and the State: the Power of Ideas and the Reality of International Politics' (in Japanese)
International human rights treaties and institutions have been instrumental in making incremental improvements even if these instruments are often ineffective when powerful states are not willing to act, says Kiyoteru Tsutsui.

What is your assessment of the efficacy of international human rights instruments and human rights diplomacy in the 21st century? Have some strategies been more effective than others in improving human rights practices?

If you look at the history of international human rights instruments in the post-World War II era, it is fairly clear that those instruments are often powerless when powerful states — permanent members of the UN Security Council — are not willing to act. The international community has repeatedly failed to stop major human rights violations, even universally condemned crimes like genocide, by these powerful states and their allies and protectorates. The international human rights regime’s track record for large-scale, intense human rights violations is not good.

On the other hand, international human rights instruments have been effective in making incremental improvements when sustained campaigns of naming and shaming can be mounted. These changes take a long time and do not necessarily result in dramatic improvements, but all over the world, indigenous peoples have gained more rights, women have voted in more countries than ever, and extreme poverty has declined. International human rights treaties and institutions have been instrumental in bringing about these changes and their contributions should be acknowledged, although we should be aware that there is always the potential for backlashes against all the progress. 

How has Japan been involved in international human rights? How do human rights diplomacy and education in Japan compare with world standards?

Japan’s first international statement that can be seen as a contribution to human rights may have been the proposal to include a racial equality clause at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference. As the only non-white major power, it was an important proposal, even if it was made for its own strategic calculations, and minority groups all over the world, including Black people in the United States, applauded it. It did not pass, unfortunately, and the disillusionment contributed to Japan’s aggressive behavior in Asia after this period.

In the post-World War II period, Japan had an engagement policy, which meant that it would prioritize communication with rights-violating regimes rather than condemn and impose sanctions on them. This was often criticized by the human rights community, as Japan engaged with apartheid South Africa, Myanmar’s military regime, and post-Tiananmen Square China. Over the last decade or so, more politicians and diplomats have been interested in moving Japan toward values diplomacy, largely in an effort to counter China. Some of them have been vocal in criticizing China and North Korea for their human rights violations, and this momentum might spill over to a fuller commitment to human rights diplomacy that has eluded Japan.

Japan’s human rights diplomacy is still emerging for the most part, but it has been a relatively good listener to criticisms about its human rights violations. Primarily because of pressures from UN human rights instruments, Japan has acknowledged Ainu as an indigenous people and promoted their culture, accorded more rights to resident Koreans in Japan, compensated victims of discrimination against leprosy patients, and addressed inequality in legally marriageable ages between men and women.

The more inwardly oriented United States is creating a vacuum in promotion and protection of liberal values, especially with China’s influence surging, and Japan should carry the torch taking the mantle of human rights, democracy, and rule of law.
Kiyoteru Tsutsui

How do you think Japan will contribute to the future of international human rights? Do you believe that Japan may play a larger role in advancing human rights on a global scale?

Japan has an opportunity to become a leader in human rights in Asia and in the world. The more inwardly oriented United States is creating a vacuum in promotion and protection of liberal values, especially with China’s influence surging, and Japan should carry the torch taking the mantle of human rights, democracy, and rule of law. Japan is the largest contributor to the budget of the International Criminal Court, which prosecutes individuals responsible for major human rights violations, and it is an interesting symbolic example of Japan’s potential contributions to international human rights. That budget is allocated according to national wealth, and the two richer countries, the United States and China, are not members of the ICC, so Japan becomes the largest contributor. This could be a dynamic that plays out in other areas, and Japan should embrace that role of becoming the biggest contributor to international human rights efforts.

What did you find surprising as you were researching your book?

When Japan made the aforementioned proposal for racial equality in 1919 at the Paris Peace Conference, it received majority support and was about to be adopted. It was U.S. President Wilson who nixed this clause, making the argument that such an important resolution requires unanimous support. We tend to think of President Wilson as an architect of the League of Nations at the Conference, and although that might be true, his role in this episode might be indicative of his thinking around the issues of race.

Read More

Photo of Charles Crabtree
News

Charles Crabtree Appointed as a Visiting Assistant Professor with the Japan Program at APARC

Crabtree, an assistant professor at Dartmouth College, researches discrimination in politics, particularly in Japan.
Charles Crabtree Appointed as a Visiting Assistant Professor with the Japan Program at APARC
A man holds a 'Stop Asian Hate' sign during a rally protesting rising violence against Asian Americans.
News

Perspectives on Rising Anti-Asian Violence from REDI

The Racial Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion Task Force sheds light on historical roots of anti-Asian racism and considers how our troubling times can present an important opening for Asian Americans to challenge racialization and white supremacy.
Perspectives on Rising Anti-Asian Violence from REDI
Protesters hold signs and chant slogans during a Black Lives Matters Peaceful March on June 14, 2020 in Tokyo, Japan.
Commentary

What Japan and the U.S. Can Learn from Each Other

Japan Program Director Kiyoteru Tsutsui explores the cost of racial division versus the cost of homogeneity by comparing the experiences of Japan and the United States.
What Japan and the U.S. Can Learn from Each Other
Hero Image
Protesters hold signs and chant slogans during a Black Lives Matter peaceful march in Tokyo.
Black Lives Matter peaceful march in Tokyo, Japan, June 2020. Protesters marched through the Harajuku - Shibuya area, calling for the eradication of racism, especially to end discrimination against Black people all over the world. | Takashi Aoyama/ Getty Images
All News button
1
Subtitle

In his new book, Shorenstein APARC’s Japan Program Director Kiyoteru Tsutsui explores the paradox underlying the global expansion of human rights and Japan’s engagement with human rights ideas and instruments. Japan, he says, has an opportunity to become a leader in human rights in Asia and in the world.

Energy Innovation in Japan and the Future of Climate Change

-

This event will offer simultaneous translation between Japanese and English. 
当イベントは日本語と英語の同時通訳がついています。

This is a virtual event. Please click here to register and generate a link to the talk. 
The link will be unique to you; please save it and do not share with others.
当イベントはZoomウェビナーで行われます。ウェビナーに参加するためには、こちらのリンクをクリックし、事前登録をして下さい。

March 1, 5-6:30 p.m. California time/ March 2, 10-11:30 a.m. Japan time

This event is part of the 2022 Japan Program Winter webinar series, The Future of Social Tech: U.S.-Japan Partnership in Advancing Technology and Innovation with Social Impact

 

The challenges of climate change require solutions on multiple fronts, one of which is technological innovation. Attempts for innovation for new energy sources have been ongoing in many parts of the world, and Japan has produced a number of new technologies. This session will focus on two of the most promising innovations coming out of Japan, biofuel and hydrogen energy, and assess their promises and challenges, highlighting technological, regulatory, and business aspects of developing new technologies. Where do these technologies fit in the energy portfolio that would address the issues of climate change and what can Japan and the United States do to collaboratively solve the key problems in advancing these technologies further? Three leading experts in the field will discuss these questions that would shape the future of climate change. 

 

Panelists

Headshot photo of Mitsuru Izumo
Mitsuru Izumo is a graduate of the University of Tokyo, having specialised in agricultural structural
management. In 2005, he established Euglena Co., Ltd. to harness the properties of microalgae
Euglena. Euglena Co., Ltd. became the world’s first biotechnology company that succeeded in the
outdoor mass cultivation of Euglena. Currently, Euglena Co., Ltd upholds “Sustainability First” as
their philosophy and has developed the manufacture and sale of foods and cosmetics as the
healthcare domain, the biofuel business, the bioinformatics business, and the social business in
Bangladesh by leveraging Euglena and other advanced technologies.

 

 

Headshot photo of Eiji Ohira
Eiji Ohira is the Director General of the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO)’s Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Technology Office In this capacity, he is responsible for the overall strategy, execution and coordination of NEDO’s research, development and demonstration project on fuel cell and hydrogen.

He has also coordinated fuel cell and hydrogen activities with international stakeholders, through International Energy Agency’s Technology Collaboration Program (IEA TCP: Advanced Fuel Cell & Hydrogen), and International Partnership for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells in the Economy (IPHE). 

He joined the NEDO in 1992, just after graduation from the Tokyo University of Science. He served as a visiting scholar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1997-1998.

 

Moderator

Headshot photo of Kate Hardin
Kate Hardin, Deloitte Executive Director for Energy and Industrials Research, has worked in the energy industry for 25 years.  She currently leads Deloitte research on the impact of the energy transition on the energy and industrial manufacturing sectors. Before that, Kate led integrated coverage of transportation decarbonization and the implications for the oil, gas, and power sectors.  Kate has also developed global energy research for institutional investors and has led analysis of Russian and European energy developments.  Kate recently served as an expert in residence at Yale’s Center for Business and Environment, and she is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.  





 

Shorenstein APARC Winter 2022 Speaker Series Icon with text "New Frontiers: Technology, Politics, and Society in the Asia-Pacific"
This event is part of the 2022 Winter webinar series, New Frontiers: Technology, Politics, and Society in the Asia-Pacific, sponsored by the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center.

Via Zoom Webinar
Register:  https://bit.ly/3LuNa94

 

 

Mitsuru Izumo <br>Founder and President, Euglena Co Ltd.<br><br>
Eiji Ohira <br>Director General of Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Technology Office, Japan New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) <br><br>
Kate Hardin <br>Executive Director, Deloitte Research Center for Energy & Industrials
Panel Discussions

Human Rights and the State: The Power of Ideas and the Reality of International Politics

Paragraphs
Portrait of Kiyoteru Tsutsui and 3D mockup cover of his book 'Human Rights and the State: the Power of Ideas and the Reality of International Politics' (in Japanese)

Winner of the Ishibashi Tanzan Book Award >

Winner of the 44th Suntory Prize for Arts and Sciences >

In this book, Kiyoteru Tsutsui explores the paradox of the global diffusion of universal human rights and the establishment of international human rights institutions against the vested interests of powerful states, and examines how human rights ideas and instruments have changed local politics globally and how Japan has engaged with them.

今や政府・企業・組織・個人のどのレベルでも必要とされるSDGsの要・普遍的人権の理念や制度の誕生と発展をたどり、内政干渉を嫌う国家が自らの権力を制約する人権システムの発展を許した国際政治のパラドックスを解く。冷戦体制崩壊後、今日までの国際人権の実効性を吟味し、日本の人権外交・教育の質を世界標準から問う。

はじめに

第１章　普遍的人権のルーツ（18世紀から20世紀半ばまで）――普遍性原理の発展史
Q．人権理念や制度はいつ生まれたものなのか？
　１　他者への共感と人権運動の広がり
　２　二つの世界大戦と普遍的人権の理念

第２章　国家の計算違い（1940年代から1980年代まで）――内政干渉肯定の原理の確立
Q．なぜ国家は自らの権力を制約する人権システムの発展を許したのか？
　１　国際政治のパラドックス
　２　冷戦下の新しい人権運動

第３章　国際人権の実効性（1990年代以降）――理念と現実の距離
Q．国際人権システムは世界中での人権の実践の向上にどの程度貢献したのか？
　１　冷戦崩壊後の期待と現実
　２　21世紀の国際人権
　３　人権実践の漸進的な向上

第４章　国際人権と日本の歩み――人権運動と人権外交
Q．日本は国際人権とどのように関わり合ってきたのか？
　１　日本国内の人権運動の歩み
　２　同化から覚醒へ
　３　日本の人権外交と試される「人権力」

おわりに

Read More

The Courteous Power

Author(s)
The Courteous Power
Books
November 2021

Demographics and Innovation in the Asia-Pacific

Author(s)
Demographics and Innovation in the Asia-Pacific
Books
May 2021

Shifting Gears in Innovation Policy

Author(s)
Shifting Gears in Innovation Policy
Books
December 2020
All Publications button
1
Publication Type
Books
Publication Date
Authors
Kiyoteru Tsutsui
Book Publisher
Iwanami Shoten

Tapping the Untapped Human Resource Potential with Social Tech: Diversity, Globalization, and the Future of Work

This event will offer simultaneous translation between Japanese and English. 
当イベントは日本語と英語の同時通訳がついています。

This is a virtual event. Please click here to register and generate a link to the talk. 
The link will be unique to you; please save it and do not share with others.
当イベントはZoomウェビナーで行われます。ウェビナーに参加するためには、こちらのリンクをクリックし、事前登録をして下さい。


Febuary 14, 4-5:30 p.m. California time/ February 15, 9-10:30 a.m. Japan time

This event is part of the 2022 Japan Program Winter webinar series, The Future of Social Tech: U.S.-Japan Partnership in Advancing Technology and Innovation with Social Impact

 

COVID-19 has changed the way we work. While remote work has become the norm, the pandemic has also highlighted the inequity in childcare, elderly care, and household work. Japanese workplaces feel a particularly acute need for adjustment, as lack of digitalization and persistent gender inequality continue to limit productivity gains and diversity in the workforce. Social entrepreneurs in Japan have started offering new technologies that address these problems and transform Japanese work environments, using matching algorithms, innovative apps, and other new technologies. How can these social technologies reshape the workplace? What principles do we need in using these technologies in practice, in order to unlock the keys to untapped human resource potentials and realize a more equitable and inclusive work environment in Japan, the United States, and elsewhere?  Fuhito Kojima, a renowned economist specializing in matching theory, will talk about market design from the perspective of regulation design and economics, and Eiko Nakazawa, an influential entrepreneur, will speak about her experiences founding education and childcare startups in the United States and Japan, moderated by Yasumasa Yamamoto, a leading expert on technology and business in Japan and the United States. 

 

Panelists

Photo of Fuhito Kojima
Fuhito Kojima is a Professor of Economics at the University of Tokyo and Director of the University of Tokyo Market Design Center. He received a B.A. at University of Tokyo (2003) and PhD at Harvard (2008), both in economics and taught at Yale (2008-2009, as postdoc) and then Stanford (2009-2020, as professor) while spending one year at Columbia in his sabbatical year. His research involves game theory, with a particular focus on “market design,” a field where game-theoretic analysis is applied to study the design of various mechanisms and institutions. His recent works include matching mechanism designs with complex constraints, and he is working on improving medical residency match and daycare seat allocation in Japan based on his academic work. Outside of academia, he serves as an advisor for Keizai Doyu Kai as well as several private companies.

 

Photo of Eiko Nakazawa
Eiko Nakazawa is the Founder and CEO of Dearest, Inc., a VC-Backed startup in the United States that makes high-quality learning, childcare, and parenting support accessible by helping employers subsidize those costs for their working families. She also advises and invests in early-stage startups, and has recently co-founded Ikura, Inc., an education x fintech company in Japan. Prior to founding Dearest, Nakazawa spent 11 years with Sony Corporation, where she led global marketing, turnaround, and new business launch initiatives. Nakazawa earned an M.S. in Management from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

 

 

Moderator

Photo of Yasumasa Yamamoto
Yasumasa Yamamoto is a Visiting Professor at Kyoto University graduate school of management and has been a specialist in emerging technology such as fintech, blockchain, and deep learning. He was previously industry analyst at Google, senior specialist in quantitative analysis of secularized products, as well as derivatives at Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi in New York. Yamamoto holds a M.S. from Harvard University and a masters degree from University of Tokyo.





 

Via Zoom Webinar
Register:  https://bit.ly/3odkWFT 

 

 

Fuhito Kojima <br>Professor of Economics at the University of Tokyo<br><br>
Eiko Nakazawa <br>Founder and CEO, Dearest Inc.<br><br>
Yasumasa Yamamoto <br>Visiting Professor at Kyoto University
Panel Discussions

Leveraging University Research into Medical Innovations with Social Impact: Biotechnology Entrepreneurship in Japan's New Startup Ecosystem

-

This event will offer simultaneous translation between Japanese and English. 
当イベントは日本語と英語の同時通訳がついています。

This is a virtual event. Please click here to register and generate a link to the talk. 
The link will be unique to you; please save it and do not share with others.
当イベントはZoomウェビナーで行われます。ウェビナーに参加するためには、こちらのリンクをクリックし、事前登録をして下さい。


February 7, 5-6:30 p.m. California time/ February 8, 10-11:30 a.m. Japan time

This event is part of the 2022 Japan Program Winter webinar series, The Future of Social Tech: U.S.-Japan Partnership in Advancing Technology and Innovation with Social Impact


Japan’s startup scene has become more exciting in recent years, but in the medical field, the failure to develop COVID-19 vaccines highlighted the shortcomings of Japan’s medical industry. What should Japan do to foster more impactful biotechnology entrepreneurship that would leverage vibrant medical research carried out at Japanese universities? The panel features two speakers who founded and grew their medical ventures in Japan's rapidly maturing startup ecosystem, both with deep connections to university research. 

Tadahisa Kagimoto founded his first company right after finishing his medical degree at Kyushu University, pioneering a pathway of commercializing biotechnology from Japanese university research. His second startup, Healios, founded in 2013 with the goal of becoming a pioneer in regenerative medicine utilizing iPS, was successfully listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 2015 and has been growing since.

Shoko Takahashi was a PhD student in molecular bioscience at the University of Tokyo when she founded her company, Genequest, to offer home DNA testing. The firm was purchased by another biotech startup founded by a University of Tokyo graduate, Euglena, in 2017, and the company has partnered with a variety of pharmaceutical, food and beverage companies, and universities in its research. Their entrepreneurial journeys reveal Japan's changing startup ecosystem that has rapidly matured over the past decade and signal a need for further development in regulatory environments, human resource development, and university-industry collaboration in the biotechnology industry.

 

Panelists

Photo portrait of Tadahisa Kagimoto
Hardy TS Kagimoto, MD is founder, Chairman and CEO of HEALIOS K.K., a Tokyo-based, clinical-stage world leader in regenerative medicine and cell therapy. 

After founding Healios in 2011, Dr. Kagimoto led the company’s listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 2015 and has built the company to its current scale of more than 140 people across its Japan and US offices. Healios leverages the favorable Japanese regulatory framework for regenerative medicine to efficiently deliver results for patients and its stakeholders. It is currently running two pivotal clinical trials for ischemic stroke and acute respiratory distress syndrome using bone marrow-derived allogeneic multipotent adult progenitor cells. At the same time, Healios is developing best-in-class, next generation pipeline assets in immuno-oncology, ophthalmology, and organ buds utilizing its innovative, proprietary universal donor iPS cell platform.

 

Photo of Shoko Takahashi
Shoko Takahashi founded the Japanese personal genome company Genequest Inc. in 2013 while a graduate student at the University of Tokyo. Genequest provides a web-based personal genetic service for consumers and collaborates with research institutions in a large-scale genome research project to maximize synergistic effects between research and personal genome services. She is filled with ambition to accelerate genetic research and contribute to human health all over the world. She graduated from the University of Tokyo with a Ph.D. in Molecular Bioscience in 2015, and Kyoto University with a Bachelor of Biochemistry Science in 2010. She has been awarded the Japan Venture Award and received the highest rating by the Japan Ministry of Economy. In 2015, she was commended by the Japan Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology as one of the researchers contributing major innovations to science technologies in Japan.

She received the 2018 Young Global Leaders award from the World Economic Forum and was selected for Newsweek's ‘100 respected Japanese in the world’ list.

 

Moderator

Photo portrait of Kenji Kushida
Kenji E. Kushida is a Senior Fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He previously was with the Japan Program at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center as a research scholar.

Kushida’s research and projects focused on the following streams : 1) how politics and regulations shape the development and diffusion of Information Technology such as AI; 2) institutional underpinnings of the Silicon Valley ecosystem, 2) Japan's transforming political economy, 3) Japan's startup ecosystem, 4) the role of foreign multinational firms in Japan, 4) Japan's Fukushima nuclear disaster. He spearheaded the Silicon Valley - New Japan project that brought together large Japanese firms and the Silicon Valley ecosystem.

He has published several books and numerous articles in each of these streams, including “The Politics of Commoditization in Global ICT Industries,” “Japan’s Startup Ecosystem,” "How Politics and Market Dynamics Trapped Innovations in Japan’s Domestic 'Galapagos' Telecommunications Sector," “Cloud Computing: From Scarcity to Abundance,” and others. His latest business book in Japanese is “The Algorithmic Revolution’s Disruption: a Silicon Valley Vantage on IoT, Fintech, Cloud, and AI” (Asahi Shimbun Shuppan 2016).





 

Via Zoom Webinar
Register:  https://bit.ly/3u1A10M

 

 

Tadahisa Kagimoto, MD. <br>Founder, Chairman, and CEO, Healios K.K.<br><br>
Shoko Takahashi <br>Founder and CEO, Genequest Inc.<br><br>

Kenji E. Kushida

0
Former Research Scholar, Japan Program
kenji_kushida_2.jpg MA, PhD
Kenji E. Kushida was a research scholar with the Japan Program at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center from 2014 through January 2022. Prior to that at APARC, he was a Takahashi Research Associate in Japanese Studies (2011-14) and a Shorenstein Postdoctoral Fellow (2010-11).
 
Kushida’s research and projects are focused on the following streams: 1) how politics and regulations shape the development and diffusion of Information Technology such as AI; 2) institutional underpinnings of the Silicon Valley ecosystem, 2) Japan's transforming political economy, 3) Japan's startup ecosystem, 4) the role of foreign multinational firms in Japan, 4) Japan's Fukushima nuclear disaster. He spearheaded the Silicon Valley - New Japan project that brought together large Japanese firms and the Silicon Valley ecosystem.

He has published several books and numerous articles in each of these streams, including “The Politics of Commoditization in Global ICT Industries,” “Japan’s Startup Ecosystem,” "How Politics and Market Dynamics Trapped Innovations in Japan’s Domestic 'Galapagos' Telecommunications Sector," “Cloud Computing: From Scarcity to Abundance,” and others. His latest business book in Japanese is “The Algorithmic Revolution’s Disruption: a Silicon Valley Vantage on IoT, Fintech, Cloud, and AI” (Asahi Shimbun Shuppan 2016).

Kushida has appeared in media including The New York Times, Washington Post, Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Nikkei Business, Diamond Harvard Business Review, NHK, PBS NewsHour, and NPR. He is also a trustee of the Japan ICU Foundation, alumni of the Trilateral Commission David Rockefeller Fellows, and a member of the Mansfield Foundation Network for the Future. Kushida has written two general audience books in Japanese, entitled Biculturalism and the Japanese: Beyond English Linguistic Capabilities (Chuko Shinsho, 2006) and International Schools, an Introduction (Fusosha, 2008).

Kushida holds a PhD in political science from the University of California, Berkeley. He received his MA in East Asian Studies and BAs in economics and East Asian Studies with Honors, all from Stanford University.
Kenji Kushida <br>Senior Fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Panel Discussions

Sparking Joy Across the Pacific: How KonMari Became a Global Success

-

This event will offer simultaneous translation between Japanese and English. 
当イベントは日本語と英語の同時通訳がついています。

This is a virtual event. Please click here to register and generate a link to the talk. 
The link will be unique to you; please save it and do not share with others.
当イベントはZoomウェビナーで行われます。ウェビナーに参加するためには、こちらのリンクをクリックし、事前登録をして下さい。


January 27, 4-5:30 p.m. California time/ January 28, 9-10:30 a.m. Japan time

This event is part of the 2022 Japan Program Winter webinar series, The Future of Social Tech: U.S.-Japan Partnership in Advancing Technology and Innovation with Social Impact



A tidying expert who started her consulting business as a 19-year-old college student, Marie Kondo leveraged her success in the Japanese market into global fame with her husband Takumi Kawahara as a key producer. What were the business strategies behind their success and how did they break the cultural barrier in the U.S. that shattered the dreams of many Japanese content makers to produce a New York Times bestseller, a hit Netflix show, and a recognition as Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World? This session explores their media strategy that used platforms like Netflix and YouTube effectively and lessons that other content makers can learn from their success in bringing content from Japan to the U.S.

Panelists

Photo of Marie Kondo
Marie Kondo is a tidying expert, bestselling author, star of Netflix’s hit show, “Tidying Up With Marie Kondo,” and founder of KonMari Media, Inc. Enchanted with organizing since her childhood, Marie began her tidying consultant business as a 19-year-old university student in Tokyo. Today, Marie is a renowned tidyingexpert helping people around the world to transform their cluttered homes into spaces of serenity and inspiration.

In her #1 New York Times bestselling book, “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up,” Marie took tidying to a whole new level, teaching that if you properly simplify and organize your home once, you’ll never have to do it again.

Marie has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The London Times, Vogue, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, The Ellen Show as well as on more than fifty major Japanese television and radio programs. She has also been named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World.

 

Photo of Takumi Kawahara
Born and raised in Hiroshima, Japan, Takumi Kawahara began his career as a corporate HR consultant and strategist for Achievement Co., Ltd. in Tokyo, serving more than 5,000 employees across multiple companies.

After befriending tidying expert, Marie Kondo, in his college years and becoming her trusted advisor, the two were married in 2013. Together, they established KonMari Media, Inc. in 2015, and Takumi assumed the role of CEO, leading the global expansion of the business – including books, media channels and the certified KonMari Consultant program, which is active in over 30 countries.

Takumi is an executive producer of Netflix’s hit show, “Tidying Up With Marie Kondo,” and overseeing product development for the KonMari brand. Takumi currently resides in Los Angeles with his partner, Marie, and their two young daughters.

 

Moderator

Photo of Kiyo Tsutsui
Kiyoteru Tsutsui is the Henri H. and Tomoye Takahashi Professor, Professor of Sociology, Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, and Deputy Director of the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, where he is also Director of the Japan Program. He is the author of Rights Make Might: Global Human Rights and Minority Social Movements in Japan (Oxford University Press, 2018), co-editor of Corporate Responsibility in a Globalizing World (Oxford University Press, 2016) and co-editor of The Courteous Power: Japan and Southeast Asia in the Indo-Pacific Era (University of Michigan Press, 2021). 





 

Via Zoom Webinar
Register:  https://bit.ly/3zQY9nE

 

 

Marie Kondo <br>Founder of KonMari Media, Inc.<br><br>
Takumi Kawahara <br>CEO of KonMari Media, Inc.<br><br>
Kiyoteru Tsutsui <br>Director of the Japan Program and Professor of Sociology, Stanford University
Panel Discussions

What's Next for the U.S.-Japan-South Korea Partnership? Security and Economic Cooperation in a New Era

-

To watch the recording of the event, click here.

This event is co-hosted with the East Asia Institute (EAI) in Korea.

Event Time: November 18, 4:00 - 6:00 PM (PST) / November 19, 9:00 - 11:00 PM (Japan and Korea)
Please register for this event at EAI event page.

The ROK-U.S. and U.S.-Japan joint statements have increased expectations for a possible expansion of security and economic cooperation among South Korea, the U.S. and Japan. However, heightened U.S.-China strategic competition, as well as persistent challenges in the region such as historical tensions and the North Korea threat, have complicated the strategic calculus of U.S., South Korea and Japan. Under these circumstances, the South Korea, the U.S. and Japan must define their economic and security interests and seek ways to maintain friendly relations among the three countries. This seminar will discuss security and economic cooperation among Korea, the United States and Japan in the era of strategic competition between the U.S. and China.

Panel 1 on security:

Park Joon Woo, former Chairman of the Sejong Institute; former South Korean Ambassador to E.U. and to Singapore

Tomiko Ichikawa, Director General of the Japan Institute of International Affairs

Gen. Vincent Brooks, former USFK Commander

Moderated by Young Sun Ha, Chairman of East Asia Institute; Professor Emeritus, Seoul National University

Panel 2 on economic cooperation:

Young Ja Bae, Professor of Political Science and Diplomacy, Konkuk University, Korea

Andrew Grotto, Director of the Program on Geopolitics, Technology and Governance, FSI, Stanford University

Kimura Fukunari, Professor of Economics, Keio University, Japan

Moderated by Thomas Fingar, Shorenstein APARC Fellow, Stanford University

 

Via Zoom. Register at https://bit.ly/3w7Ak9g

Panel Discussions
Korean Studies Colloquium Series
Korea Program

Drivers of Innovation

Paragraphs
Cover of book "Drivers of Innovation"

Innovation and entrepreneurship rank highly on the strategic agenda of most countries today. As global economic competition intensifies, many national policymakers now recognize the central importance of entrepreneurship education and the building of financial institutions to promote long-term innovation, entrepreneurship, and economic growth. Drivers of Innovation brings together scholars from the United States and Asia to explore those education and finance policies that might be conducive to accelerating innovation and developing a more entrepreneurial workforce in East Asia. 

Some of the questions covered include: How do universities in China and Singapore experiment with new types of learning in their quest to promote innovation and entrepreneurship? Is there a need to transform the traditional university into an “entrepreneurial university”? What are the recent developments in and outstanding challenges to financing innovation in China and Japan? What is the government’s role in promoting innovative entrepreneurship under the shadow of big business in South Korea? What can we learn about the capacity of services to drive innovation-led growth in India? 

Drivers of Innovation will serve as a valuable reference for scholars and policymakers working to develop human capital for innovation in Asia.

Contents

  1. Educating Entrepreneurs and Financing Innovation in Asia 
    Fei Yan, Yong Suk Lee, Lin William Cong, Charles Eesley, and Charles Lee
  2. Fostering Entrepreneurship and Innovation: Education, Human Capital, and the Institutional Environment 
    Charles Eesley, Lijie Zhou, and You (Willow) Wu
  3. Entrepreneurial Scaling Strategy: Managerial and Policy Considerations 
    David H. Hsu
  4. Innovation Policy and Star Scientists in Japan 
    Tatsuo Sasaki, Hiromi S. Nagane, Yuta Fukudome, and Kanetaka Maki
  5. Financing Innovation in Japan: Challenges and Recent Progress 
    Takeo Hoshi and Kenji Kushida
  6. Promoting Entrepreneurship under the Shadow of Big Business in Korea: The Role of the Government 
    Hicheon Kim, Dohyeon Kim, and He Soung Ahn
  7. The Creativity and Labor Market Performance of Korean College Graduates: Implications for Human Capital Policy 
    Jin-Yeong Kim
  8. Financing Innovative Enterprises in China: A Public Policy Perspective 
    Lin William Cong, Charles M. C. Lee, Yuanyu Qu, and Tao She
  9. Forging Entrepreneurship in Asia: A Comparative Study of Tsinghua University and the National University of Singapore 
    Zhou Zhong, Fei Yan, and Chao Zhang
  10. Education and Human Capital for Innovation in India’s Service Sector 
    Rafiq Dossani
  11. In Need of a Big Bang: Toward a Merit-Based System for Government-Sponsored Research in India 
    Dinsha Mistree
  12. The Implications of AI for Business and Education, and Singapore’s Policy Response 
    Mohan Kankanhalli and Bernard Yeung

 

 

Stanford Asia-Pacific Innovation

The volume 'Drivers of Innovation' is the third in three publications that are the product of APARC's multi-year research project Stanford Asia-Pacific Innovation. This project helps promote innovation and entrepreneurship in the region by providing critical academic and policy research into the severe challenges to East Asia's continued growth and development.
Visit the project page

Read More

Demographics and Innovation in the Asia-Pacific

Author(s)
Demographics and Innovation in the Asia-Pacific
Books
May 2021

Shifting Gears in Innovation Policy

Author(s)
Shifting Gears in Innovation Policy
Books
December 2020

South Korea’s Democracy in Crisis

Author(s)
South Korea’s Democracy in Crisis
Books
June 2022
All Publications button
1
Publication Type
Books
Publication Date
Subtitle

Entrepreneurship, Education, and Finance in Asia

Authors
Yong Suk Lee
Fei Yan
Book Publisher
Shorenstein APARC
Book Publisher External URL
Subscribe to Japan