Japan in the World – from Postwar Revival to the Present

Japan in the World – from Postwar Revival to the Present

Aaron P. Forsberg - Economic Unit Chief, Office of Japan Affairs, U.S. Department of State

Friday, September 30, 2016 - 12:00pm to 1:30pm
Room 241, Rosenkranz Hall See map
115 Prospect Street
New Haven, CT 06511

Surveying the changes in Japan’s place in the world from the ashes of defeat in 1945 to the country’s growing global role in a fast-changing region under Prime Minister Abe, Aaron Forsberg discusses his scholarly research on Japan’s postwar revival and his experience working on Japanese affairs at the U.S. Department of State since 2001. Keying off of the relationship between Japan and the United States, his talk explores the internal and external drivers of policy across the major phases of Japan’s place in the world since 1945. These include reintegration into the international community as a U.S. ally by 1960, subsequent economic expansion and rivalry through the 1990s, and global partnership with the United States starting in the 2000s. Discussion and questions on both history and current policy are welcome.


Aaron P. Forsberg began as Economic Unit Chief in the Office of Japan Affairs at the U.S. Department of State in August 2015.  He previously held the position of Executive Assistant in the Department’s Office of the Chief Economist from  2013 to 2015.   A Foreign Service Officer since 2001, he has served overseas in Iraq (2012-2013), Japan (2009-2012), Thailand (2004-2006), and Qatar (2001-2003), covering economic affairs.  He worked as country desk officer for Indonesia and Timor-Leste at the Department in Washington, DC (2006-2008).  He speaks Japanese and French.

Prior to 2001, he researched and wrote about U.S.-East Asia relations and worked at the Tokyo Office of the law firm White & Case LLP.  Publications include America and the Japanese Miracle on Japan’s economic revival after 1945  (University of North Carolina Press, 2000; reissued in paperback in 2014).  He graduated with a B.A. in History from Whitman College in Washington State and a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin.  He is married and has one daughter.

Sponsored by The Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership
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