In this special edition of Japan Memo season 3, Robert Ward, Yuka Koshino and Mariko Togashi, report live on the 20th IISS Shangri-La Dialogue from Singapore. Robert, Yuka and Mariko interview Bill Emmott, Chair of the IISS Trustees, Dr Valerie Niquet, Senior Research Fellow at the Foundation for Strategic Research and Senior Fellow (non-resident) at the Japan Institute of International Affairs and Dr Jimbo Ken, Professor at the Faculty of Policy Management at Keio University, to gain their insi...
Jun 07, 2023•21 min•Season 3Ep. 6
In the fifth episode of Japan Memo season 3, Robert Ward hosts Dr Fukushima Akiko, senior fellow at the Tokyo Foundation for Policy Research and non-resident fellow at the Lowy Institute. Robert and Dr Fukushima delve into the history of Japan’s engagement with multilateralism and multilateral institutions, examine Japan’s role in multilateralism for the age of the great power competition, particularly its presidency of this year’s G7 summit, and analyse Japan’s strategic thinking towards multil...
May 15, 2023•33 min•Season 3Ep. 5
In the fourth episode of Japan Memo season 3, Koshino Yuka hosts Professor Akiyama Nobumasa, Dean of the School of International and Public Policy and Professor at the Graduate School of Law at Hitotsubashi University, and William Alberque, Director of Strategy, Technology and Arms Control at the IISS. Yuka, Akiyama-sensei and William unpack the dynamics of nuclear issues in the region, examine the Kishida government’s responses to the nuclear security flashpoints surrounding Japan, and analyse ...
Apr 18, 2023•41 min•Season 3Ep. 4
In the third episode of Japan Memo season 3, Mariko Togashi hosts Bill Emmott, Chairman of the IISS Trustees, Chair of the Japan Society UK and an Ushioda Fellow of Tokyo College at the University of Tokyo, and Fenella McGerty, IISS Senior Fellow for Defence Economics. Mariko, Bill and Fenella analyse the balance between defence spending and other public spending priorities, unpack Prime Minister Kishida’s New Capitalism strategy and its implications for the defence budget increase, offer their ...
Mar 24, 2023•38 min•Season 3Ep. 3
In the second episode of Japan Memo season 3, Yuka Koshino hosts former Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) Lieutenant General Oue Sadamasa, currently Consulting Senior Fellow at the Institute of Geoeconomics in Tokyo, and Douglas Barrie, IISS Senior Fellow for Military Aerospace. Yuka, Oue-san and Doug analyse Japan’s current airpower and aerospace capabilities, assess the regional threats around Japan and how its new strategies and the JASDF might address them, offer their insights on opportu...
Feb 14, 2023•35 min•Season 3Ep. 2
In the first episode of Japan Memo season 3, Yuka Koshino, Mariko Togashi and Robert Ward host Professor Kanehara Nobukatsu, Professor at the Faculty of Law at Doshisha University, senior advisor at The Asia Group in Washington DC, and former Assistant Chief Cabinet Secretary to Prime Minister Abe Shinzo from 2012 to 2019. Yuka, Mariko, Robert and Kanehara-sensei unpack Japan’s three historic new national-security documents, offer their insights on the significance and details of these documents...
Jan 17, 2023•38 min•Season 3Ep. 1
In this month’s episode of Japan Memo, Robert Ward and Yuka Koshino are joined by Satoru Mori, Professor at Keio University in Tokyo and a Senior Fellow at the Nakasone Peace Institute (NPI) and Zack Cooper, Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). Robert, Yuka, Satoru and Zack provide US and Japanese perspectives on Taiwan contingency scenarios; their analyses on Taiwan contingency wargames conducted in the US and Japan between 2021-2022; and offer assessments on what the US an...
Dec 13, 2022•41 min•Season 2Ep. 11
In this month’s episode of Japan Memo, Yuka Koshino is joined by Martijn Rasser, Senior Fellow and Director of the Technology and National Security Program at the Center for New American Security, Meia Nouwens, IISS Senior Fellow for Chinese Defence Policy and Military Modernisation, and Mariko Togashi, Matsumoto-Samata Research Fellow for Japanese Security and Defence Policy at the IISS. Yuka, Martijn, Meia and Mariko provide US, Japanese, Chinese, Taiwanese and European perspectives on their r...
Nov 17, 2022•38 min•Season 2Ep. 10
In this episode of Japan Memo, Yuka Koshino and Mariko Togashi host Matsubara Mihoko, chief cybersecurity strategist at NTT Corporation and research associate for Cyber, Space and Future Conflict at the IISS. Yuka, Mariko and Mihoko-san analyse Japan’s approaches to cybersecurity, notably following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, offer perspectives on Japan’s cyber capabilities and their impact on national security, and give a rundown of the state of cybersecurity at Japan’s commercial level. Topi...
Oct 11, 2022•36 min•Season 2Ep. 9
In this episode of Japan Memo, Robert Ward and Yuka Koshino host Professor Takahara Akio, Director of the JICA Ogata Sadako Research Institute for Peace and Development, Professor of Contemporary Chinese Politics at the University of Tokyo, Distinguished Research Fellow at the Japan Forum on International Relations, Senior Adjunct Fellow at the Japan Institute of International Affairs and Senior Researcher at the Tokyo Foundation for Policy Research. Robert, Yuka, and Takahara-sensei provide a h...
Sep 06, 2022•34 min•Season 2Ep. 8
In this episode of Japan Memo, Robert Ward and Yuka Koshino host Dr Tsuruoka Michito, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Policy Management at Keio University, as well as Senior Associate Fellow at the Centre for Security, Diplomacy and Strategy (CSDS) at the Brussels School of Governance, and Senior Fellow at the Tokyo Foundation for Policy Research. Robert, Yuka, and Tsuruoka-sensei unpack the background context of growing Japan-NATO relations, the 2022 Madrid Summit, the implications of dee...
Aug 02, 2022•34 min•Season 2Ep. 7
In this episode of Japan Memo, Robert Ward and Mariko Togashi are joined by Dr Maria Shagina, the IISS Diamond-Brown Research Fellow for Economic Sanctions, Standards and Strategy. Maria brings her extensive knowledge on international sanctions, economic statecraft, and energy policies to discuss Japan’s sanctions on Russia in response to its aggressions in Ukraine and understand the broader dynamics within Asia. Topics discussed include: President Zelenskyy’s speech at the 2022 Shangri-La Dialo...
Jul 05, 2022•29 min•Season 2Ep. 6
In this episode of Japan Memo, directly preceding the 2022 IISS Shangri-La Dialogue, Robert Ward and Yuka Koshino host Kotani Tetsuo, professor of global studies at Meikai University and senior fellow at the Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA), and Dr Ueki Chikako Kawakatsu, professor of international relations at Waseda University’s Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies. Robert, Yuka, Kotani-sensei and Ueki-sensei share their insights on the war in Ukraine’s impact on Asia’s exist...
Jun 07, 2022•38 min•Season 2Ep. 5
In this month’s episode of Japan Memo, recorded in-person at Arundel House in London, Robert Ward and Mariko Togashi, IISS Research Fellow for Japanese Security and Defence Policy, are joined by Terazawa Tatsuya, Chairman and CEO of The Institute of Energy Economics, Japan (IEEJ). Robert, Mariko and Terazawa-san offer insights into Japan’s past, present and future energy policies, how they affect Japan’s national security, and the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on the stability of global...
May 10, 2022•37 min•Season 2Ep. 4
In this episode of Japan Memo, Yuka Koshino and Robert Ward are joined by Dr Valérie Niquet, senior research fellow at the Foundation for Strategic Research (FRS) in Paris and the Japanese Institute of International Affairs (JIIA) in Tokyo. Robert, Yuka and Valérie discuss the causes and trends in the recent Franco-Japanese rapprochement, and the implications of increasing overlap in France and Japan’s Indo-Pacific strategies and international outlooks. Topics discussed include: The causes for a...
Apr 05, 2022•30 min•Season 2Ep. 3
Yuka Koshino is joined by Dr Suzuki Kazuto, professor of science and technology policy at the Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Tokyo and senior fellow at the Asia Pacific Initiative, and Dr Bleddyn Bowen, lecturer in International Relations at the University of Leicester. Bleddyn and Kazuto draw from their deep government and academic experience in European and Japanese space policy to shed light on Japan’s role in this increasingly critical and complex domain. Topics discus...
Mar 08, 2022•38 min•Season 2Ep. 2
In this episode of Japan Memo, Robert Ward and Yuka Koshino are joined by Dr Michael Green, senior vice president for Asia, Japan Chair, and Henry A. Kissinger Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and director of Asian Studies at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He also served on the National Security Council from 2001 to 2005, first as Director for Asian Affairs with responsibility for Japan, Korea, Australia, and New Zealand, and th...
Feb 08, 2022•33 min•Season 2Ep. 1
In episode 6 of Japan Memo, Robert Ward and Yuka Koshino are joined by Dr Sheila Smith, senior fellow for Asia-Pacific studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and Peter Landers, Tokyo bureau chief at The Wall Street Journal. Sheila and Peter draw upon their expertise and on-the-ground insights to examine the implications of the 31st October 2021 general election. Topics discussed include: · Election results and changes in Japanese politics · Internal Liberal Democratic Party dynamics ·...
Dec 01, 2021•46 min•Season 1Ep. 6
In episode five of Japan Memo, Yuka Koshino is joined by the UK’s Ambassador to Japan, Julia Longbottom, to discuss Japan – UK relations. She has been serving as Ambassador to Japan since March 2021 and it is her third posting to Japan. Between 1990 – 1993, she was in Tokyo as the Second Secretary in the Political Section of the British Embassy, then again between 2012 – 2016 as the Deputy Head of Mission. Yuka and Ambassador Longbottom explore the Japan – UK relationship and how it has develope...
Nov 04, 2021•35 min•Season 1Ep. 5
Robert Ward and Yuka Koshino are joined by Murakami Yumiko, co-founder and general partner at MPower Partners, an ESG focused venture capital fund and former Head of the OECD Tokyo Centre. Prior to the OECD, she worked at Goldman Sachs in New York and London for approximately 20 years. Drawing upon her vast wealth of experience, Yumiko shares with Robert and Yuka perspectives from the Japanese private sector on topics including: • Japanese private sector responses to decoupling from China • Japa...
Oct 05, 2021•35 min•Season 1Ep. 4
In this episode, Robert Ward and Yuka Koshino are joined by Dr Sanjaya Baru, a Distinguished Fellow at the United Service Institution of India where he conducts research on India's economic and strategic relations with Asia and the strategic imperatives of Indian economic policy. From 2004–2008, he was media adviser to former prime minister Manmohan Singh and was involved in facilitating early exchanges between India and Japan. Robert, Yuka and Sanjaya discuss the growing strategic relationship ...
Sep 01, 2021•32 min•Season 1Ep. 3
In episode two of Japan Memo, co-hosts Robert Ward and Yuka Koshino are joined by Professor Jimbo Ken, a security and foreign policy expert from the Faculty of Policy Management at Keio University, to discuss the defence and security trends highlighted in Japan’s 2021 Defence White Paper, as well as: • Japan’s missile defence challenges • Japan’s investments in new domains (space, cyber, and electromagnetic spectrum) • The role of the US–Japan Alliance in meeting defence and economic security ch...
Aug 04, 2021•32 min•Season 1Ep. 2
In episode one of Japan Memo, co-hosts Robert Ward and Yuka Koshino are joined by the Chairman of the IISS Trustees, Bill Emmott. Bill is a writer, consultant, long-time Japan watcher and Chairman of the Japan Society of the United Kingdom. From 1993−2006, he was editor-in-chief of The Economist . To launch this new IISS podcast series, Robert, Yuka and Bill discuss the key developments in Japan over the past decades. These include societal changes such as Japan’s shifting demography, notably it...
Jul 06, 2021•32 min•Season 1Ep. 1
The Japan Memo is a new podcast series that unpacks why Japan matters in today’s regional and global geopolitical landscape. In each episode, the co-hosts, Robert Ward and Yuka Koshino of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Japan Chair Programme, will bring in strategists, experts and practitioners from around the world to examine how Japan is using its diplomatic, economic and military tools to achieve its strategic goals, and what lessons it offers to other countries. Host...
Jul 01, 2021•1 min
