The Japanese economy has been stagnating for almost two decades. During this event, Takeo Hoshi will describe the findings of a report that he co-authored with Anil Kashyap of the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. In the report, Hoshi and Kashyap utilized the neoclassical growth model in order to try to explain the causes of this stagnation and to identify policy choices that might help restore growth. Their focus was intentionally on longer-term issues, rather than the immediate challenges that are associated with the fallout from the global recession.

Looking at financial globalization and the collapse of the fixed exchange rate regime they found that by the end of the 1970s Japan could not rely on an undervalued currency to boost its exports. It had to rearrange its production system and other economic institutions to cope with globalization to reduce its reliance on external demand.

Japan's population structure was shifting and becoming increasingly elderly. Aging meant slower growth of the labor force. Declining fertility combined with aging eventually reduced the domestic saving that supported economic expansion during the rapid economic growth period.

Finally, monetary and fiscal policy performed poorly. The Bank of Japan consistently undershot its inflation objective. The government pursued massive fiscal stimulus during the 1990s and 2000s, so much so that Japan went from having the best debt position amongst advanced economies to the worst.

Hoshi is a Pacific Economic Cooperation Professor in international economic relations at the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies at the University of California, San Diego. He is also a research associate at the Tokyo Center for Economic Research, and is on the board of directors for Union Bank. His major research area is the study of the financial aspects of the Japanese economy, especially corporate finance and governance.

He is a recipient of the 2011 Reischauer International Education award, the 2006 Enjoji Jiro Memorial Prize, and the 2005 JEA-Nakahara Prize. Among his many publications is Corporate Financing and Governance in Japan: The Road to the Future (MIT Press, 2001), which received the Nikkei Award for the Best Economics Books in 2002.

Except for specialists working on the period, the Korean Empire's (1897–1910) project to develop Pyongyang as the "Western Capital" (Sŏgyŏng) is not all that well known even among Korea historians. From the perspective of international relations, there can be no doubt that the Russo-Japanese War sealed independent Korea’s fate. All the same, in the last two decades or so, Korea’s own effort toward modernization has received more attention among historians who no longer dismiss the history of the Korean Empire as the tail end of the Chosŏn Dynasty. For sure, the official rhetoric that empires old and new have had two capitals conceals imperial Korea’s self-perceptions about its place in the civilized world of the past, the present, and the future. Moreover, scrutiny of the circumstances in which the government undertook the project before it came to a halt allows insight into the Korean Empire’s understanding of geopolitical realities at the time.

Eugene Y. Park is the Korea Foundation Associate Professor in History in the School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania. He is also the director of Penn's Korean Studies Program. Dr. Park completed his doctorate in East Asian languages and civilizations at Harvard in 1999 and has received numerous research grants and fellowships, including: a 2007–08 Seoul National University Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies Fellowship; a 2003–04 Korea Foundation Advanced Research Grant; a 1999–2000 Yale University Council on East Asian Studies Postdoctoral Fellowship; a 1996–97 Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship; and a 1995–96 Fulbright Fellowship. His research interests focus on the sociopolitical history of early modern Korea, and his current work examines the chungin ("middle people") to address questions of modernity, identities, and agency. His book, Between Dreams and Reality: The Military Examination in Late Chosŏn Korea, 1600–1894, was published by the Harvard University Asia Center in 2007. He has published chapters and articles in venues such as Journal of Social History and Yŏksa wa hyŏnsil.

Using research from the SPRIE-Project on Japanese Entrepreneurship (SPRIE-STAJE), representatives from the U.S. and Japanese governments met initially in Tokyo on May 27, 2010 to consider ways to foster an environment to promote new businesses and job creation. On November 13, 2010, the White House and the Prime Minister's Office formally launched the U.S.-Japan Dialogue to Promote Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Job Creation, elevating it to a policy-level dialogue in cooperation with SPRIE-STAJE. This dialogue aims to build on the conversation among Stanford's academic experts, prominent business people, and government officials about how to foster innovation through entrepreneurship. A roundtable discussion features the importance of innovation and entrepreneurship with leading Stanford academic experts, government officials, and business leaders. This will be followed by a panel discussion by experts from the U.S. and Japan on collaborative opportunities in pioneering smart grids for energy production, transmission, and distribution.

Featured speakers include:

• John Roos, US Ambassador to Japan
• Robert Hormats, Under Secretary for Economic, Energy and Agricultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State
• William Miller, Co-Director, SPRIE, Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, Stanford Univeristy
• Michael Armacost, Shorenstein Distinguished Fellow, Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, Stanford University and Former Ambassador to Japan
• Norihiko Ishiguro, Director General, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry
• Larry W. Sonsini, Chairman, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
• Daniel I. Okimoto, Professor Emeritus, Department of Political Science & Director Emeritus, Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, Stanford University
• Kathleen Eisenhardt, Professor, School of Engineering, Stanford University
• Robert Eberhart, SPRIE Researcher, SPRIE, Shorenstsein Asia-Pacific Research Center, Stanford Univeristy
• Nobuyori Kodaira, Senior Managing Director, Toyota Motor Corporation,
• Donald Wood, Managing Director, Draper Fisher Jurvetson
• Richard Dasher, Director, US-Asia Technology Management Center