Yale Project on Japan’s Politics and Diplomacy Series

Event
Posted : July 26, 2016

Political dynasties exist in nearly all democracies, but have been conspicuously prevalent in Japan, where over a third of all legislators and two-thirds of all cabinet ministers in recent years come from families with a history in parliament. Such a high proportion of dynasties in a developed democracy is unusual, and has sparked concerns over whether the democratic processes in Japan are working properly. In his book project, Dynasties and Democracy: The Inherited Incumbency Advantage and Institutional Reform in Japan, Daniel M. Smith introduces a comparative theory to explain the...

Event
Posted : May 26, 2016

Senior scholars from Japan and the United States will travel to Yale for this conference and give presentations on Japanese foreign and domestic policy. In addition, graduate students from Yale, Stanford, Princeton, and Boston University will present their work.    Panelists:  • Takako Hikotani (National Defense Academy) • Jennifer Lind (Dartmouth College) • Keisuke Iida (University of Tokyo) • Syuhei Kurizaki (Waseda University) • Ryo Sahashi (Kangawa University) • Chikako Ueki (Waseda University)  • Phillip Lipscy (Stanford University) • Nobuhiro Hiwatari (University of Tokyo) Graduate...

Event
Posted : January 7, 2016

Against the backdrop of evolving social institutions over the last 100 years, I will explore the role women have played in Japanese society through reflection on the lives of my grandmother, my mother, and myself Nobuko Sasae works as a conference interpreter and currently resides in Washington, D.C. along with her husband, Kenichiro Sasae, the present Ambassador of Japan to the United States.  As a graduate of Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo from their College of Literature, Department of English, Mrs. Sasae went on to receive a Masters of Education from the University of Pennsylvania.  ...

Event
Posted : January 6, 2016

What explains the rise and fall of military power in Japan? I identify key determinants of Japan’s military power and security policy in recent years to be a set of political institutions, pacifist norms, and laws. While China’s rise in military power has caused Japan to upgrade its capability and use technology and foreign cooperation to buttress military power, the “troika” of the postwar institutions has long shaped Japan’s security policy and constrained the use of force. I will show that the institutional, normative, and legal constraints are a large part of...

Event
Posted : January 6, 2016

Since 3.11, there has been a resurgence of political activism, especially among women. Activists, NPOs (non-profit organizations), NGOs (non-governmental organizations), and voluntary organizations help women manage needs related to the disasters and prolonged relocation. These organizations provide services and create spaces for women’s empowerment and care. Yet by finding solutions outside of the political system, the gap between civil society—where women are active and engaged—and Japan’s political institutions has deepened, further marginalizing women from the political process. For women...

Event
Posted : January 6, 2016

The Treaty of Peace with Japan, commonly known as the San Francisco Peace Treaty, was signed on September 8, 1951 in San Francisco, and came into force on April 28, 1952.  This post-World War II settlement with Japan, prepared and signed against the backdrop of the intensifying Cold War, fell far short of settling outstanding issues at the end of the war or facilitating a clean start for the “postwar” period in East Asia. Rather, various aspects of the settlement were left equivocal. The  peace treaty, which largely determined Japan’s position in the post-war world, along with the US-Japan...

Event
Posted : October 2, 2015

With Prime Minister Abe’s hawkish reputation and the recent legislation of the collective self-defense law, Japan has seemingly been tilting toward the right over the last few years. Yet, does the government’s shift reflect Japanese people’s opinions? Are Japanese people hawkish? If so, what factors might have a pacifying effect on the hawkish attitude? Through a series of public opinion surveys related to the case of the ongoing territorial disputes between Japan and China, this study examines conditions under which the lay public becomes dovish.

Event
Posted : September 4, 2015

A puzzling turnaround in attention to national security among the conservative politicians governing Japan occurred in 1997, which preceded a dramatic transformation in Japanese security policy.  Curiously, this turnaround is not explained by other variables believed to influence Japanese security policy, such as concerns about the strength of the U.S. commitment or the security threat posed by China. Using 7,497 candidate election manifestos, 126,275 voter petitions, public opinion polls, a case study of politicians’ treatment of the North Korean threat, insights from years spent...

Event
Posted : September 4, 2015

Nuclear reactors entail massive non-transferrable site-specific investments. The resulting appropriable quasi-rents offer the mob the ideal target. In exchange for large fees, it can either promise to “protect” the utility (and silence the reactor’s local opponents) or “extort” from it (and desist from inciting local opponents). Using municipality-level (1742 cities, towns, and villages) and prefecture-level (47) Japanese panel data covering the years from 1980 to 2010, I find exactly this phenomenon: when a utility announces plans to build a reactor, the level of extortion climbs.   ...

Event
Posted : August 26, 2015

Over the last two decades, jury systems have been introduced for criminal trials in several democracies including Japan, South Korea, Spain, and, on a provisional basis, Taiwan.  Why might democratic states whose criminal trials had long been dominated by professional judges decide to invite greater public input into those proceedings?  And what factors might account for the differences in the configuration of the new jury institutions across different countries?  Drawing on detailed study of the reform efforts of Japan, South Korea, Spain, and Taiwan, this study argues that partisan dynamics...

Event
Posted : August 20, 2015

Yale University is proud to welcome Ambassador Ryozo Kato and Mr. Naoyuki Agawa to campus on September 21 for a special event, “The Arc of Post-World War II Japanese Diplomacy: A Conversation.” Professors Paul Kennedy, J. Richardson Dilworth Professor of History and Director, International Security Studies, and Koichi Hamada, Tuntex Emeritus Professor of Economics, will join Ambassador Kato and Mr. Agawa for a discussion of the global context of Japanese diplomacy during the last 70 years. The event will be held in the auditorium of Henry R. Luce Hall (34 Hillhouse Avenue) at 4:00 p.m., and...

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