What explains the recent large swings in the behavior of Japanese voters? Last August, for the first time in the post-WWII era, Japan's leading political party, the Liberal Democratic Party, lost power, making way for a new DPJ government. During the preceding months leading up to the lower house elections in August 2009, popular media coverage pointed to fundamental structural changes in the Japanese political economy as the underlying causes for changing voter preferences. To what extent can structural changes in the economy and society explain changing voter behavior and electoral outcomes? Japan's two decade old stagnating economy, rapidly graying society, and post-industrial advanced economic structure provide an ideal case for studying this question. Using both national and sub-national level data spanning two decades, we test both popular theories and conventional wisdom about the political effects of a graying society, widening income disparities, and industrial structural change.

Kay Shimizu is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Columbia University. She received her undergraduate degree and PhD in political science from Stanford University (2008). Her research concerns the political economy of Japan and China, with a focus on fiscal politics, central local relations, and the politics of economic structural change. Her book manuscript, Private Money as Public Funds: the Politics of Japan's Recessionary Economy, examines the role of private financial institutions in Japan's political struggles to adjust to a changing economic and demographic landscape. She is on leave during the 2009-2010 academic year as an Advanced Research Fellow at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs Program on US Japan Relations at Harvard University.

Viewed from the realist perspective of mainstream international political economy, economic and elite-based political integration are the keys to building a region; “soft” or “normative” questions of identity can be ignored.  Contesting that view, Dr. Pietsch will argue that research on regionalism, especially in Southeast Asia, could benefit from a focus on the nature and role of national and regional identity in that process. Compared with the growing body of scholarship on European identity as a means of understanding “Europeanization,” regional identity in Southeast Asia is still underexplored. Addressing this gap is important especially in relation to issues of democratization such as human rights, migrant labor, access to citizenship, environmental sustainability, gender equality, and corruption. These questions necessarily invoke national cultural and political values and their implications for regional identity.

Drawing on relevant theories, Dr Pietsch will use AsiaBarometer data to examine public opinion on democratization, national identity, and regional cooperation in Southeast Asia. Her preliminary findings underscore the need to broaden scholarship on regionalism in Southeast Asia to encompass both cultural and political manifestations of identity. In addition, she will show how identity helps explain why ASEAN-style regionalism is often thought by analysts to have succeeded in economic and security terms but to have failed in the consciousness of Southeast Asians themselves.

Dr. Juliet Pietsch is a senior lecturer in political science in the Australian National University’s School of Politics and International Relations. She studies broad patterns of social and political behaviour in Australia and East Asia. Recent publications include Dimensions of Australian Society (co-authored, 2010), and "Generational Change: Regional Security and Australian Engagement with Asia," The Pacific Review (co-authored, 2010).

The United States and Japan celebrated the 50th anniversary of the current US-Japan security treaty in January 2010, despite several dark clouds on the horizon. Both countries have seen transitions to Democrats in power in 2009 that led to new political debates over security practices. Is the future actually as rosy as portrayed by diplomats on both sides in this "anniversary year"? Relations will probably continue their rocky course in the coming months, but in the medium term the underlying logic for close US-Japan security cooperation, and for continuing development of defense capabilities in Asia for both countries, is quite strong.

Andrew Oros is a specialist on the international and comparative politics of East Asia and the advanced industrial democracies, with an emphasis on contending approaches to managing security and on the linkage between domestic and international politics. He is the author of Normalizing Japan: Politics, Identity, and the Evolution of Security Practice (Stanford University Press, 2008) and the co-editor of and contributor to Japan's New Defense Establishment: Institutions, Capabilities, and Implications (Stimson Center, 2007), Can Japan Come Back? (Pacific Council, 2003), and Culture in World Politics (Macmillan Press, 1998). His latest work is as co-author of the forthcoming Global Security Watch: Japan (Praeger Press, 2010). He also has shared his research in over a dozen scholarly articles, numerous mass-media quotations, and lectures to policymakers in Washington, DC, Berlin, Tokyo, Beijing, and elsewhere.

Donald K. Emmerson is a professor at Stanford University, where he heads the Southeast Asia Forum in the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center in the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and is affiliated with the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies and the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law. 

Prior to joining Stanford’s faculty, Emmerson taught political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and spent time as a visiting scholar at the Australian National University (Canberra), the Institute of Advanced Studies (Princeton), and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (Washington, DC), among other institutions.  He received his Yale University PhD in political science following a Princeton University BA in international affairs.

In this session of the Shorenstein APARC Corporate Affiliate Visiting Fellows Research Presentations, the following will be presented:

Buddhaditta Bose, "Spanning the Chain and Capturing Value in the Clinical Research Outsourcing (CRO) Industry"

The clinical research outsourcing (CRO) industry is a multi-billion dollar industry that has grown over time and is dominated by a few global top CROs. There is no significant Indian player in the market because the global top CROs have strategically chosen to be at the higher end of the value chain. It is therefore imperative that an Indian CRO, like Reliance Life Sciences (RLS), focus its strategy on spanning the chain and providing higher value add to capture the attention of the clients and successfully compete in the marketplace thereby becoming a leading player in the market.

Bose's research looks at the industry value chain and the relative positioning of the case in point - RLS with respect to the value chain and provides recommendations on how RLS can climb up the value chain. His research also highlights the macro view of the industry in context of the basic theme of the research mentioned above.

Girish Masand, "Advanced Tools for Complete Characterization of Biopharmaceutical Products"

Characterization of biopharmaceuticals plays a key role in the identification, structural elucidation and quantitation of chemical constituents or chemical impurities in current protein based therapeutics. For a biopharmaceutical protein to be well characterized, it is essential to be able to define the natural molecular heterogeneity, impurity profile, and potency of that product with a high degree of confidence. Given the continuing development of new technologies in this field, and the complex nature of biopharmaceutical drugs, the recent guidance documents have been drafted to include more stringent and detailed analytical data requirements for product registration. In order to move faster through the regulatory framework and obtain product approval, it is important for any biopharmaceutical company to keep abreast of the current and emerging trend in analytical technologies.

Masand's research provides an assessment of current practices at Reliance Life Sciences and newer trends in analytical characterization of biopharmaceuticals, which will help Reliance Life Sciences to broaden its current perspective of product characterization, sequentially helping to launch its pipeline products at a faster pace.

Masatsugu Mitsuyama, "Strategy of Cable TV Companies - To Get Through the Competitive Environment, What Will Cable TV Companies Do?

In 1948, cable television (CATV) originated in the United States with the purpose of enhancing poor reception of local over-the-air television signals. Since its origin, the CATV industry has grown steadily, expanding its service line-ups and advancing its service features. However, in last two decades, the environment surrounding the CATV industry changed. Competitors such as DirecTV, Dish Network, Verizon and AT&T entered into multi-channel video service. With advanced service features and attractive pricing, these competitors promote existing CATV customers to switch providers and the CATV industry continued to decrease the number of video customers in the last 8 years. Mitsuyama analyzes the CATV industry's approach to get through this competitive environment. Service advancement seems to be a key factor for CATV companies to differentiate themselves. He makes argument especially on "advanced interactive services", on which the CATV industry is focusing its efforts.

Masahito Sugita, "Creation of New Business in Japan and U.S. - Consideration in the Trend Toward a Cloud Computing World"

"Cloud Computing" is a new concept in the structure of computing systems, and is spreading gradually into our lives and businesses. The big shift from the present computing style to the cloud computing style, especially in the fields of enterprise IT systems, is predicted to occur within the next 3 to 5 years. This will fundamentally change information and communication technology (ICT) business models around the world.

Sugita analyzes the impacts of cloud computing on the ICT businesses and the structure of industry, and investigates new strategies suitable for the changing business environments from the point of view of creating new business in Japan and the U.S.

In this session of the Shorenstein APARC Corporate Affiliate Visiting Fellows Research Presentations, the following will be presented:

Hironori Iwane, "Smart Grid Strategies Concerning Renewable Energies in the United States and Japan"

The topic of Smart Grid has become more and more popular because technologies concerning it are effective for efficiency improvement and renewable energy increase in electric power systems. However, Smart Grid is an ambiguous term and its meanings vary with different audiences. Therefore, it is increasingly difficult to identify what Smart Grid is or understand the potential benefits or concern for future electric power systems. As the result, grasping strategies for future electric power systems is complicated. This research focuses on clarifying the future strategies for electric power systems in ambiguous renewable and Smart Grid circumstances.

Daiju Nakahashi, "Current and Future Trends of the Smart Grid in the U.S. and Japan - A Study of New Business Opportunities"

The Smart Grid is a next generation power grid that controls the supply and demand of electricity by using advanced information and communications technology. The Smart Grid is considered revolutionary in the power industry - just as the Internet was to the IT industry. In recent years, worldwide interest in the Smart Grid has increased due to its close relationship to renewable energy. In particular, the interest in the United States has grown significantly since the Obama administration unveiled its plan to invest heavily in the Smart Grid. Nakahashi's research in the Smart Grid examines current trends in the United States and Japan and analyzes opportunities for new businesses.

Tomohiro Yamaguchi, "Mobile Industry in the U.S. and Japan:  The Differences and Direction in Each Country"

With the rise of smartphones, such as the iPhone and Android phone, the mobile internet market is dramatically growing in the United States. In Japan, on the other hand, the closed nature of the market is seen as a problem, which is sometimes called "Galapagos", with the negative connotation of the nature. Yamaguchi considers the difference between both markets, and attempts to answer the questions -"Which market is leading?" and "How much is it leading?" Finally, Yamaguchi will conjecture the direction of the future.

This lecture will examine the origins of the Cold War in East Asia, how early the Cold War came to Korea, how the Korean War transformed the containment doctrine, how it solidified the continuing divisions in East Asia, and how it transformed defense policy in the United States, leading to a far-flung structure of seemingly permanent military bases in South Korea, Japan, Germany, and many more countries that lasts down to 2010.  Professor Cumings will also examine problems of history and memory regarding what most Americans call "the forgotten war."

Bruce Cumings teaches international history, modern Korean history and East Asian political economy at the University of Chicago, where he has taught since 1987 and where he is the Gustavus F. and Ann M. Swift Distinguished Service Professor and the chairman of the History Department.  He received his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1975. He has taught at Swarthmore College (1975-77), the University of Washington (1977-86), and Northwestern University (1994-97). He is the author of the two-volume study, The Origins of the Korean War (Princeton University Press, 1981, 1990), War and Television (Visal-Routledge, 1992), Korea's Place in the Sun: A Modern History (W. W. Norton, 1997; updated ed. 2005), Parallax Visions: Making Sense of American—East Asian Relations (Duke University Press, 1999; paperback 2002), North Korea: Another Country (New Press, 2003), co-author of Inventing the Axis of Evil  (New Press, 2004), and is the editor of the modern volume of the Cambridge History of Korea (forthcoming). He is a frequent contributor to The London Review of Books, The Nation, Current History, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and Le Monde Diplomatique. The first volume of his Origins won the John King Fairbank book award of the American Historical Association for the best book on East Asia in the previous two years, and the second volume won the Quincy Wright book award of the International Studies Association. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1999, and is the recipient of fellowships from the Ford Foundation-funded Foreign Area Fellows program, NEH, the MacArthur Foundation, the Center for Advanced Study at Stanford, and the Abe Fellowship Program of the Social Science Research Council. He was also the principal historical consultant for the Thames Television/PBS 6-hour documentary, Korea: The Unknown War. He recently published Dominion From Sea to Sea: Pacific Ascendancy and American Power, which was ranked as one of the top 25 books of 2009 by the Atlantic Monthly. Random House will publish his short book, The Korean War, on the war’s 60th anniversary in 2010. He is also contracted to publish a new, single-volume synoptic edition of The Origins of the Korean War.

Focus

In 2008, for the first time a majority of the world's population lived in cities. Rapidly rising standards of living and migration are contributing to an unprecedented worldwide surge in urbanization--in China alone, if trends continue, by 2025 more than 220 cities will each have more than one million inhabitants. The explosive growth of cities around the Pacific has widespread implications for energy use and has led to the demand for cities to become both smart and green.

But while billions of dollars of investments are pouring into urban energy solutions, and around the Pacific "low-carbon cities" and "eco-cities" are moving center stage, there are enormous challenges (and opportunities) facing the effective application of information technologies (IT), other innovative technologies and industrial growth.

The intersection of IT and environmental sustainability on the urban scale will require a complex integration of expertise, tools, and know-how from multiple disciplines--from building design and real estate development, to mobility and water systems, IT hardware and software, and energy providers. Although innovations in strategies and implementation are evolving quickly in pockets of excellence around the globe, early results have been highly uneven. Frameworks for understanding and analysis are still fragmented, innovative design and implementation rapidly changing, and best practices have yet to be defined.

Purpose
Led by SPRIE at Stanford University, this conference aims to gather an elite group of experts, decision makers, and thought leaders from across disciplines and geographical boundaries to focus on smart green cities around the Pacific. Participants will:

• Pursue a deeper understanding of the complex interactions among the key drivers that impact the extent that cities are green and smart
• Focus on core challenges of capitalizing on opportunities and overcoming obstacles--technological, economic, behavioral or political
• Explore what innovations in strategy or practice are leading to positive outcomes, including human livability, financial viability, economic vitality, and environmental sustainability
• Discuss implications for the evolution of markets and development of industries 
• Lay the groundwork for future actions, such as industry strategies, research agendas, and policy recommendations

Participants
"Smart Green Cities" will invite a select group of government, business, and academic leaders from the United States and Asia for two days of expert presentations and fruitful discussion at Stanford University. The summit will enable participants to better lead to improved strategy, action, and outcomes for building the next generation of smart green cities.

Agenda
Agenda is preliminary and not all speakers are confirmed. Please download below

Sponsors
Many thanks to our sponsors for making this event possible. 

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