Japan

The Stimson Center's Japan program seeks to provide a dynamic platform for engaging in useful discussion and analysis on the security issues relevant to Japan and its alliance with the United States. We strive to provide empirically based, high-quality analyses in order to promote a clear understanding of Japanese politics and security issues in Washington DC as well as to facilitate professional exchanges between security policy experts in Japan and the US. In order to achieve these goals, the program engages in three core activities: policy-relevant research, outreach events, and visiting fellows.

Current Projects

Opportunities Out of Necessity-Implication of US Defense Spending Cuts on the US-Japan Alliance
Defense spending cuts are inevitable in the US.  However, Washington must be extremely careful in managing its relationship with its allies in the Asia-Pacific region, while it debates spending cuts at home.  More specifically, the United States' special relationship with Japan must be managed carefully.  Faced with the daunting task of rebuilding after the March 2011 Great Eastern Japan Earthquake, Japan is anticipated to react with particular concern to any decrease in US engagement in the region, given the uncertainty on the Korean Peninsula and China's growing assertiveness.  If managed poorly, the debate over US defense-spending reductions will be perceived as signs of US isolationism, disengagement in Asia, and a reduced commitment to the US-Japan alliance.  If handled adeptly by both parties, the upcoming transition can serve as a positive vehicle for modernizing and strengthening the Alliance. Utilizing defense spending cut scenarios and in-depth interviews with Japanese and US defense officials, this project aims to propose a way for the two allies to engage in constructive strategic dialogue in an era of austerity.

The Strategic Impact of a Shifting Nuclear Security Consciousness in Japan
Since the end of the Cold War, there has been a gradual, but significant evolution in how Japanese citizens and policymakers perceive their country's physical security and legitimate responses to security threats.  As the only country ever exposed to nuclear attacks, Japan's strong advocacy for nuclear disarmament has been a major foreign policy priority.  Both Japanese citizens and policymakers have long nurtured a general "allergy" to robust military capabilities, particularly nuclear weapons.   More recently, Japanese citizens, responding to provocations by North Korea and the increasing sensationalism of North Korea and China by the media, have developed a sense of insecurity that leads them to question Japan's non-nuclear status quo.  However, the meltdown at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant following the GEJE has dramatically revived Japan's "nuclear allergy." Mindful of these two opposing trends, this project examines the strategic impact of recent shifts in nuclear security consciousness in Japan.

Recent Research

Great Eastern Japan Earthquake: "Lessons Learned" for Japanese Defense Policy
The Great Eastern Japan Earthquake (GEJE) on March 11, 2011 was the worst disaster in the nation's recorded history. The triple combination of an earthquake, tsunami, and meltdown of the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Station dealt a severe blow to northeastern Japan, resulting in the largest and fastest mobilization of the Japanese Self-Defense Force (JSDF) since its establishment in 1954, and an unprecedented cooperative relief effort with the US armed forces, Operation Tomodachi. The JSDF's commendable efforts in the face of this challenge demonstrated its incredible strength and the US-Japan alliance, but the unprecedented nature of this disaster response also generated a number of "lessons learned."  This report, written by Yuki Tatsumi, documents the challenges faced by the JSDF related to its capabilities: from C4ISR (command and control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) to logistics, and even the JSDF's capability to respond to nuclear accidents.  More>>

The New Nuclear Agenda: Prospects for US-Japan Cooperation
The accident at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Station demonstrated quite dramatically the national security risk that civil nuclear power stations can present.  This has led many countries to reflect about the long-term prospects for investments in nuclear energy, and to weigh the environmental, economic, and safety factors, and to consider the energy benefits.  Both the United States and Japan share a goal of eliminating the security challenges posed by the proliferation and/or mismanagement of nuclear materials.  This volume examines the prospects for enhanced cooperation between Tokyo and Washington, and makes the argument for addressing nuclear issues through a more intergrated approach... More>>

North Korea: A Challenge for the US-Japan Alliance
North Korea continues to pose security and diplomatic challenges.  Managing policy differences toward Pyongyang has been one of the diplomatic challenges between the United States and Japan.  The Stimson Center's publication, North Korea: A Challenge for the US-Japan Alliance (2011), seeks to examine the various challenges that North Korea creates for US-Japan relations from differing perspectives... More>>

Previous Research

Since 1999, Stimson's Japan Program has a track record of conducting policy-relevant research on the issues salient to the US-Japan alliance. The Program's past publications include:

• Japan's National Security Policy Infrastructure: Can Tokyo Meet Washington's Expectation? (2008)
  
• Strategic Yet Strained: US Force Realignment in Japan and its Effects on Okinawa (2008)
• Japan's New Defense Establishment: Institutions, Capabilities, and Implications (2007)
• The Dragon's Shadow: The Rise of China and Japan's New Nationalism (2006)
• Japan's Nuclear Options: Security, Politics, and Policy in the 21st Century (2003)
• An Alliance for Engagement: Building Cooperation in Security Relations with China (2002)

Visiting Fellows Program for Japan

The  Visiting Fellows Program for Japan focuses on facilitating person-to-person exchange between security policy professionals in Japan and the United States. Our exchange program targets mid-career professionals from national security institutions, academia, and news organizations, and invites them to spend 2-3 months at the Stimson Center to conduct targeted research on public policy issues related to US-Japan relations.  Stimson plans to continue this program and host Visiting Fellows from Japan at least twice a year. 
Click here to the complete list of previous visiting fellows from Japan.

Events

2012

2011

2010

Recent Analyses and Commentaries  

• Yuki Tatsumi was featured in a CCTV segment on Shinzo Abe's Second Term (CCTV, February 22, 2013)
• Yuki Tatsumi wrote an article entitled, "Japan under DPJ Rule" (Harvard International Review, January 31, 2013)
• Yuki Tatsumi was recently quoted in PBS' Newhour online blog for an analysis entitled, "Dueling Dynasties Roil Asia" (December 14, 2012)
• Yuki Tatsumi wrote a Spotlight Analysis article entitled, "Japan chose a new leader: what can we expect from Shinzo Abe?" (December 17, 2012)
• Yuki Tatsumi provided a commentary on the Japanese conservative leaders and Japanese domestic politics for Foreign Policy magazine's Passport Blog. (Foreign Policy, December 16, 2012)
• Yuki Tatsumi wrote an article entitled, "Shinzo Abe Gets a Second Chance: What is in Store for Him?" (CSIS Japan Chair Platform, October 22, 2012)
• Yuki Tatsumi wrote an article entitled, "US-Japanese Tensions Flare" (The National Interest, October 18, 2012)
• Yuki Tatsumi wrote a Spotlight Analysis article entitled, "Japan-China Relations: What Now?" (September 18, 2012)
• Yuki Tatsumi wrote an expert brief on "Japan-China Tension over Senkaku/Daoyutai Islands" (Stimson, Sept 11, 2012)
• Yuki Tatsumi wrote a chapter entitled, "Maintaining Japan's Non-Nuclear Identity: The Role of U.S. Security Assurances" in Security Assurances and Nuclear Proliferation (Jeffrey w. Knopf ed. Stanford Security Studies, July 2012)
• Yuki Tatsumi was quoted in an article entitled, "A New US-Japan Military Alliance Starts Choppy" in the Medill National Security Zone. (August 2, 2012)
• Yuki Tatsumi co-wrote an article on Thinking through Japan-ROK Security Relations, which was published in the Japan Times Online.  (August 1, 2012)
• Yuki Tatsumi wrote an article entitled, DPRK Deadlock: Implications for the Future of US-Japan Defense Cooperation, which was published by 38 North. (July 9, 2012)
• Yuki Tatsumi wrote an article on the Security Consultative Committee's joint statement in the PacNet Newsletter, published by Pacific Forum/CSIS, entitled The US and Japan Make a Good Step Forward, for Now (May 3, 2012)
• Yuki Tatsumi wrote a Spotlight Analysis article, entitled One Year After 3-11: 'Lessons Learned' for Japan (March 13, 2012)
• Yuki Tatsumi co-wrote a Spotlight Analysis article on The Regional Implications and the Passing of Kim Jong-Il  (December 20, 2011)
• Yuki Tatsumi wrote a post on the Stimson Center's The Will and the Wallet blog discussing Japanese defense spending in the wake of the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake (April 15, 2011)
• Yuki Tatsumi was featured on PBS NewsHour segment on One Month After Tsunami, what are Japan's Biggest Needs (video) (April 11, 2011)
• Yuki Tatsumi wrote an analysis of the Japanese government's response to the situation at the Daiichi nuclear power plant for BBC online. (April 1, 2011)
• Yuki Tatsumi wrote a post on the Stimson Center's The Will and the Wallet blog discussing cooperation between Japan Self-Defense forces and the US military in the wake of the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake of March 11. (March 22, 2011)
• Yuki Tatsumi was featured on PBS NewsHour segment on Order, Resilience Mark Japanese Response to Compound Crises (video)  (March 17, 2011)
• Yuki Tatsumi wrote a Spotlight Analysis entitled, The Role of the Japan Self-Defense Force in the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake. (March 17, 2011)
• Yuki Tatsumi wrote a post on the Stimson Center's The Will and the Wallet blog discussing Defense Secretary Robert Gates' visit to Tokyo (January 13, 2011)

Click here to the complete list of analyses and commentaries