The United States, Japan, and the World: Opportunities and Challenges

Watch the event video below or click here.

In 2017, the United States and Japan will face a world that is tumultuous and uncertain. With the Trump administration, there are many questions about where the U.S. is heading. In contrast, Japan continues to enjoy much political stability, though Prime Minister Shinzo Abe faces a host of challenges both at home and abroad. How will the two countries’ respective political developments impact their foreign policies? How does each country see the world and where does it find challenges? Partnering with the Canon Institute for Global Studies in Tokyo, Stimson’s Japan Program presented a seminar to facilitate dialogues on these issues. Joining the panel were Kuni Miyake, Research Director for Foreign and National Security Affairs at CIGS, Ken Jimbo, Senior Research Fellow at CIGS and Associate Professor at the Faculty of Policy Management at Keio University, Julianne Smith, Senior Fellow and Director of the Strategy and Statecraft Program at the Center for a New American Security, and Daniel Twining, Counselor and Asia Director at the German Marshall Fund. The panel was moderated by Yuki Tatsumi, Senior Associate of the Japan Program at Stimson.

WHAT: A seminar on the challenges and opportunities facing the U.S. and Japan in 2017.

Featuring:

Kuni Miyake is the Research Director for Foreign and National Security Affairs at the Canon Institute for Global Studies. He is also a Visiting Professor at Ritsumeikan University. In 2006-2007, he was Executive Assistant to Akie Abe in the Office of the Prime Minister of Japan. Miyake joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Japan (MOFA) in 1978. Until he left MOFA in 2005, he served in a number of senior positions, including Deputy Director-General of the Middle East Bureau; Minister at the Embassy of Japan in Iraq and Japan’s Representative to the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA); Charge d’Affaires at the Embassy of Japan in Iraq, Minister for Public Affairs at the Embassy of Japan in China; and Directors of Japan-U.S. Security Treaty Division, First Middle East Division and Second Middle East Division in MOFA. He graduated from the Law Faculty of the University of Tokyo.

Ken Jimbo is a Senior Research Fellow at the Canon Institute for Global Studies (CIGS). He is concurrently an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Policy Management, Keio University and the Tokyo Foundation (TKFD). He also serves on the Board of Directors at the Civic Force, as a Visiting Fellow at the Genron NPO, and as a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). His main research fields are in International Security, Japan-U.S. Security Relations, Japanese Foreign and Defense Policy, Multilateral Security in Asia-Pacific, and Regionalism in East Asia. He has been a policy advisor at various Japanese governmental commissions and research groups including at the National Security Secretariat, the Ministry of Defense, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Julianne Smith is Senior Fellow and Director of the Strategy and Statecraft Program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). Smith comes to CNAS while serving as a Senior Vice President at Beacon Global Strategies LLC. Prior to joining Beacon, she served as the Deputy National Security Advisor to the Vice President of the United States from April 2012 to June 2013. During March and April of 2013, she served as the Acting National Security Advisor to the Vice President. Prior to her posting at the White House, she served as the Principal Director for European and NATO Policy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense in the Pentagon. In that capacity, Smith acted as the principal staff assistant and advisor to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs for all matters falling within the broad spectrum of NATO and European policy.

Daniel Twining is Counselor & Asia Director at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, a thinktank and foundation in Washington, DC. As Counselor, he serves on the executive management team that governs GMF’s $35 million annual operations in research, convening, leadership development, and grantmaking. As Director of the Asia Program, he leads a 15-member team working on the rise of Asia and its implications for the West through a program of convening and research spanning East, South, and Southeast Asia. Twining previously served as a Member of the U.S. Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff, as the Foreign Policy Advisor to U.S. Senator John McCain, and as a staff member of the U.S. Trade Representative. He is an Associate of the U.S. National Intelligence Council, has taught at Georgetown University, and served as a military instructor associated with the Naval Postgraduate School.

Yuki Tatsumi is a Senior Associate with the Stimson Center’s East Asia program. Previously, Tatsumi worked as a research associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and as the Special Assistant for Political Affairs at the Embassy of Japan in Washington, D.C. In September 2006, Tatsumi testified before the House Committee on International Relations. She is a recipient of the 2009 Yasuhiro Nakasone Incentive Award and earned the Letter of Appreciation from the Ministry of National Policy of Japan in 2012 for her contributions to advancing mutual understanding between the United States and Japan. A native of Tokyo, Tatsumi holds a B.A. in liberal arts from the International Christian University in Tokyo, Japan and an M.A. in international economics and Asian studies from the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, D.C.

Photo credit: Moyen Brenn via Flickr

Subscription Options

* indicates required

Research Areas

Pivotal Places

Publications & Project Lists

38 North: News and Analysis on North Korea