Japan's New Geopolitics in a Post-Abe World

Japan has taken on a greater leadership role in not only the Indo-Pacific but also throughout the globe. One key figure in this political development was Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who worked to salvage a regional trade pact after the United States decided not to join, who identified China as a security threat to Japan that required defense reform, and who secured the country’s hosting of the 2020 Summer Olympics, which was delayed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

What is the future of Japan’s global leadership in the aftermath of Abe’s assassination? How has Japan’s defense policy changed in response to the China challenge? This conversation will explore the implications of these developments for Japan's foreign policy and its relationship with the United States, China, and other key players in the world. We'll also delve into the challenges and opportunities facing Japan as it navigates a rapidly changing geopolitical landscape. Join Perry World House and the Center for East Asian Studies for this important conversation about an important global player.

Nobokatsu Kanehara is a professor in Doshisha University's Department of Political Science. He served as assistant chief cabinet secretary to Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe from 2012 to 2019. In 2013, Kanehara also became the inaugural deputy secretary-general of the National Security Secretariat, a role which he held until his retirement from government service in 2019. He also served as deputy director of the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office. Kanehara’s role in the cabinet built on a distinguished career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he served in a number of notable positions, including as director-general of the Bureau of International Law; deputy director-general of the Foreign Policy Bureau, and ambassador-in-charge of the United Nations and human rights. Kanehara served abroad as deputy chief of mission in Seoul, Republic of Korea and political minister at the Embassy of Japan in Washington. He was decorated by the President of France with l’Ordre de la Légion d’Honneur.

Ambassador Mikio Mori currently serves as the Consul-General of the Consulate General of Japan in New York. Previously, he has served as First Secretary in Bonn; Counsellor, Head of Chancellery in Singapore; Director of the Second Africa Division; Minister-Counsellor and Minister, Head of Chancellery in Japan’s Mission to the UN; Minister, Head of Chancellery in Canberra; Minister, Deputy Head of Mission in Nairobi; Deputy Director, Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office; Director-General of African Affairs and Director-General of Consular Affairs. Ambassador Mori is a graduate of both Tokyo University (LLB) and Williams College (BA).

Frederick Dickinson is Professor of Japanese History and Director of the Center for East Asian Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Born in Tokyo and raised in Kanazawa and Kyoto, Japan, he writes and teaches about modern Japan, on empire, politics and nationalism in East Asia and the Pacific, and on World History. He is the author of War and National Reinvention: Japan in the Great War, 1914 - 1919 (Harvard University Asia Center, 1999), Taisho tenno (Taisho Emperor, Minerva Press, 2009) and World War I and the Triumph of a New Japan, 1919-1930 (Cambridge University Press, 2013). Dickinson has received grants from the Japanese Ministry of Education, the Fulbright Commission, and the Japan Foundation and was a National Fellow at the Hoover Institution and a Research Scholar at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies. He received an M.A. and Ph.D. in History from Yale University and holds an M.A. in International Politics from Kyoto University.

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Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Perry World House, 3803 Locust Walk, Philadelphia, United States