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Japanese Perspectives on Security in Southeast Asia, Japanese Political Confrontation, and Leadership in International Trade Rule-Making
The East-West Center in Washington, Social Science Research Council, and the Sasakawa Peace Foundation (SPF) invite you to a New Voices from Japan Seminar featuring:
Dr. Saya KIBA
Associate Professor,
Komatsu University, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan
Dr. Akai OHI
Adjunct Lecturer, University of Tokyo, Hosei University and Showa Women’s University
Dr. Takemasa SEKINE
Associate Professor, Nagoya University of Commerce & Business (NUCB)
Dr. Satu Limaye(Moderator)
Director, East-West Center in Washington
The New Voices from Japan Program is designed to provide a new generation of Japanese scholars with the skills they need to participate fully in such international discussions and make available their scholarship to a global audience. The program grew out of the recognition, shared by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation (SPF) and the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) that younger Japanese scholars often have few of the skills needed for international engagement and thus transpacific intellectual discourse is still dominated by a small group of senior scholars and experts. Three participants in this SPF-sponsored initiative, designed to provide opportunities for international dialogue to a new generation, will present their research on contemporary Japanese policies.
In her presentation on Japan’s Engagement in Meeting Security Needs in Southeast Asia, Dr. Saya KIBA discussed the importance of enhancing defense capability in Southeast Asian countries to counteract the region’s increasing dependence on China in the economic sphere while also avoiding direct confrontation with China. As a major economic partner and longtime donor, what has Japan done and what are the limitations on its activities in the region? The presentation identifies major achievements and challenges in Japan’s recent economic and security assistance to Southeast Asia. Dr. Kiba focuses on assistance by the Ministry of Defense and Japan Self-Defense Forces, providing the militaries in the Asia-Pacific region with training and education in the field of non-traditional security. As the revised 2015 Development Charter still prohibits the use of ODA funds to assist foreign militaries, there is a common perception in the international community that Japan’s defense assistance remains minimal. However, there remains much room for Japan to develop needs-based assistance for security sector governance in Southeast Asia. Dr. Kiba will discuss activities in the Philippines where she has conducted detailed studies of local needs. In July 2018, President Duterte signed the Bangsamoro Organic Law that will allow enhanced autonomy in some parts of predominantly Muslim Mindanao. Japan may provide technical assistance to police, military, and courts which play critical roles in solving problems that are related to local security in post-conflict communities. Such programs may also include collaboration with the US government and military to provide security-related officers with training and education.
Discussing “The Politics of Reform”: A Guide to Understanding Contemporary Japanese Political Confrontation, Dr. Akai OHI provided a framework for understanding the political confrontation in Japan since the 1990s. During the Cold War era, Japanese politics was based on an old political paradigm of "Conservative (Right) vs Progressive (Left)", but with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the "Progressive (Left)" wing almost disappeared. Since then, the broader conservative camp has been divided into two parts, which Dr. Ohi refers to as (1) “Conventional Conservative” and (2) “Reformative Conservative”, and these two types of conservatism are now engaged in a new political confrontation. “Conventional Conservatives” prefer pork-barrel politics with consensus-oriented decision making, while “Reformative Conservatives” try to dismantle pork-barrel politics by exercising strong political will and leadership. Dr. Ohi’s presentation suggests that we can see a zig zag process in Japanese politics over the past 30 years in which the “Reformative Conservatives” have become dominant over the “Conventional Conservatives”. The governance strategy of the “Reformative Conservatives” has two characteristics; (1) political reform to strengthen top-down decision making, and (2) administrative and economic reforms to reorganize the government bureaucracy and to reduce regulations. This framework will help to provide a picture of Japanese politics after the end of the Cold War, and to understand the current positioning of Shinzo Abe’s government.
Dr. Takemasa SEKINE’s talk, entitled Japan’s Leadership in International Trade Rule-Making, focused on the leading role Japan is playing in constructing multilateral trade frameworks. Starting from a basic tenet that pursues a balance between bilateralism and multilateralism, Japan has actively pursued three agreements; the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). With regard to the first framework, Japan’s prompt reaction after the US withdrawal from the original agreement was impressive. It was able to preserve the agreement more or less intact, encouraging the remaining 11 members to continue and sign the agreement. The new agreement, known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, CPTPP was signed within a year of the US withdrawal. The CPTPP is attracting new members, and at this moment, it looks like it may increase to 16 members. In parallel with the CPTPP, Japan has concluded an FTA with the EU and is now working to finalize the RCEP. As a result of the progress in reaching these agreements, the US-Japan trade relationship is decreasing in importance for Japan and there are indications that the pressure on Japan to conclude a trade agreement with the US might lose momentum.
For more images, please visit the album for this event on the East-West Center's Flickr page.
Dr. Saya KIBA is Associate Professor at Komatsu University in Ishikawa Prefecture. She studied at Kobe University (Ph.D. in Political Science 2010) and the Third World Studies Center, University of the Philippines. She served as a secretary to Diet member Seiji Maehara from September 2010 to March 2012 when his Democratic Party of Japan was the ruling party. Her major fields of interest are Southeast Asian studies, civil-military relations, international cooperation policies, and defense diplomacy. She has experience as a practitioner, working in the Embassy of Japan in the Philippines, Embassy of Japan in Thailand, and a Japan-based international NGO for conflict prevention as a program officer in charge of Kenya and South Sudan. Her recent works include "Civil-Military Cooperation Strategy for Disaster Relief in Japan," in Liaison Vol. IX-1, Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance, Hawaii (2017), and “Duterte’s diplomacy: not hostility, but discomfort with US values,” in PacNet Number 92, Pacific Forum CSIS, Hawaii (2016).
Dr. Akai OHI is an adjunct lecturer of the University of Tokyo, Hosei University and Showa Women’s University where he teaches the history of 20th century political thought. He received a Ph.D. from the University of Tokyo in 2017, with a dissertation on British political thought, especially on the ideas of ideas of political theorist Harold Laski (1893-1950). He held a fellowship from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science twice from 2011 to 2013 and 2015 to 2017. His current interest lies in “Neo-liberal Globalization”, and contemporary Japanese Politics after the end of the Cold War.
Dr. Takemasa SEKINE is an Associate Professor at Nagoya University of Commerce & Business (NUCB). His main research area is International Economic Law. He received his legal education at Keio University, Japan (Ph.D. and LL.M) and held as a post-doctoral research fellow position sponsored by the Japan Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS). He is currently a board member of the Government Procurement Review Board, and has also joined research projects hosted by Japanese governmental institutions, such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan and the Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI). His recent research focuses on the relationship between the World Trade Organization (WTO) and free trade agreements (FTAs), regulation of State-owned Enterprises under trade agreements, subsidy regulation under FTAs, and procedural issues under the WTO dispute settlement procedures.
Dr. Satu Limaye is Director of the East West Center in Washington where he also directs the Asia Matters for America initiative and edits the Asia Pacific Bulletin. He is also Senior Advisor, Center for Naval Analyses (CNA) and Senior Fellow on Asia History and Policy at the Foreign Policy Institute at Paul H. Nitze School of International Studies (SAIS). Earlier, Dr. Limaye served on the research staff of the Strategy, Forces & Resources Division at the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) and Director of Research & Publications at the Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies. He publishes and speaks widely on Asia-Pacific regional issues and supports various foundation, fellowship and professional organizations. He is a magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Georgetown University and received his doctorate from Oxford University (Magdalen College) where he was a George C. Marshall Scholar.
Japanese Perspectives on Security in Southeast Asia, Japanese Political Confrontation, and Leadership in International Trade Rule-Making
The East-West Center in Washington, Social Science Research Council, and the Sasakawa Peace Foundation (SPF) invite you to a New Voices from Japan Seminar featuring:
Dr. Saya KIBA
Associate Professor,
Komatsu University, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan
Dr. Akai OHI
Adjunct Lecturer, University of Tokyo, Hosei University and Showa Women’s University
Dr. Takemasa SEKINE
Associate Professor, Nagoya University of Commerce & Business (NUCB)
Dr. Satu Limaye(Moderator)
Director, East-West Center in Washington
The New Voices from Japan Program is designed to provide a new generation of Japanese scholars with the skills they need to participate fully in such international discussions and make available their scholarship to a global audience. The program grew out of the recognition, shared by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation (SPF) and the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) that younger Japanese scholars often have few of the skills needed for international engagement and thus transpacific intellectual discourse is still dominated by a small group of senior scholars and experts. Three participants in this SPF-sponsored initiative, designed to provide opportunities for international dialogue to a new generation, will present their research on contemporary Japanese policies.
In her presentation on Japan’s Engagement in Meeting Security Needs in Southeast Asia, Dr. Saya KIBA discussed the importance of enhancing defense capability in Southeast Asian countries to counteract the region’s increasing dependence on China in the economic sphere while also avoiding direct confrontation with China. As a major economic partner and longtime donor, what has Japan done and what are the limitations on its activities in the region? The presentation identifies major achievements and challenges in Japan’s recent economic and security assistance to Southeast Asia. Dr. Kiba focuses on assistance by the Ministry of Defense and Japan Self-Defense Forces, providing the militaries in the Asia-Pacific region with training and education in the field of non-traditional security. As the revised 2015 Development Charter still prohibits the use of ODA funds to assist foreign militaries, there is a common perception in the international community that Japan’s defense assistance remains minimal. However, there remains much room for Japan to develop needs-based assistance for security sector governance in Southeast Asia. Dr. Kiba will discuss activities in the Philippines where she has conducted detailed studies of local needs. In July 2018, President Duterte signed the Bangsamoro Organic Law that will allow enhanced autonomy in some parts of predominantly Muslim Mindanao. Japan may provide technical assistance to police, military, and courts which play critical roles in solving problems that are related to local security in post-conflict communities. Such programs may also include collaboration with the US government and military to provide security-related officers with training and education.
Discussing “The Politics of Reform”: A Guide to Understanding Contemporary Japanese Political Confrontation, Dr. Akai OHI provided a framework for understanding the political confrontation in Japan since the 1990s. During the Cold War era, Japanese politics was based on an old political paradigm of "Conservative (Right) vs Progressive (Left)", but with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the "Progressive (Left)" wing almost disappeared. Since then, the broader conservative camp has been divided into two parts, which Dr. Ohi refers to as (1) “Conventional Conservative” and (2) “Reformative Conservative”, and these two types of conservatism are now engaged in a new political confrontation. “Conventional Conservatives” prefer pork-barrel politics with consensus-oriented decision making, while “Reformative Conservatives” try to dismantle pork-barrel politics by exercising strong political will and leadership. Dr. Ohi’s presentation suggests that we can see a zig zag process in Japanese politics over the past 30 years in which the “Reformative Conservatives” have become dominant over the “Conventional Conservatives”. The governance strategy of the “Reformative Conservatives” has two characteristics; (1) political reform to strengthen top-down decision making, and (2) administrative and economic reforms to reorganize the government bureaucracy and to reduce regulations. This framework will help to provide a picture of Japanese politics after the end of the Cold War, and to understand the current positioning of Shinzo Abe’s government.
Dr. Takemasa SEKINE’s talk, entitled Japan’s Leadership in International Trade Rule-Making, focused on the leading role Japan is playing in constructing multilateral trade frameworks. Starting from a basic tenet that pursues a balance between bilateralism and multilateralism, Japan has actively pursued three agreements; the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). With regard to the first framework, Japan’s prompt reaction after the US withdrawal from the original agreement was impressive. It was able to preserve the agreement more or less intact, encouraging the remaining 11 members to continue and sign the agreement. The new agreement, known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, CPTPP was signed within a year of the US withdrawal. The CPTPP is attracting new members, and at this moment, it looks like it may increase to 16 members. In parallel with the CPTPP, Japan has concluded an FTA with the EU and is now working to finalize the RCEP. As a result of the progress in reaching these agreements, the US-Japan trade relationship is decreasing in importance for Japan and there are indications that the pressure on Japan to conclude a trade agreement with the US might lose momentum.
For more images, please visit the album for this event on the East-West Center's Flickr page.
Dr. Saya KIBA is Associate Professor at Komatsu University in Ishikawa Prefecture. She studied at Kobe University (Ph.D. in Political Science 2010) and the Third World Studies Center, University of the Philippines. She served as a secretary to Diet member Seiji Maehara from September 2010 to March 2012 when his Democratic Party of Japan was the ruling party. Her major fields of interest are Southeast Asian studies, civil-military relations, international cooperation policies, and defense diplomacy. She has experience as a practitioner, working in the Embassy of Japan in the Philippines, Embassy of Japan in Thailand, and a Japan-based international NGO for conflict prevention as a program officer in charge of Kenya and South Sudan. Her recent works include "Civil-Military Cooperation Strategy for Disaster Relief in Japan," in Liaison Vol. IX-1, Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance, Hawaii (2017), and “Duterte’s diplomacy: not hostility, but discomfort with US values,” in PacNet Number 92, Pacific Forum CSIS, Hawaii (2016).
Dr. Akai OHI is an adjunct lecturer of the University of Tokyo, Hosei University and Showa Women’s University where he teaches the history of 20th century political thought. He received a Ph.D. from the University of Tokyo in 2017, with a dissertation on British political thought, especially on the ideas of ideas of political theorist Harold Laski (1893-1950). He held a fellowship from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science twice from 2011 to 2013 and 2015 to 2017. His current interest lies in “Neo-liberal Globalization”, and contemporary Japanese Politics after the end of the Cold War.
Dr. Takemasa SEKINE is an Associate Professor at Nagoya University of Commerce & Business (NUCB). His main research area is International Economic Law. He received his legal education at Keio University, Japan (Ph.D. and LL.M) and held as a post-doctoral research fellow position sponsored by the Japan Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS). He is currently a board member of the Government Procurement Review Board, and has also joined research projects hosted by Japanese governmental institutions, such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan and the Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI). His recent research focuses on the relationship between the World Trade Organization (WTO) and free trade agreements (FTAs), regulation of State-owned Enterprises under trade agreements, subsidy regulation under FTAs, and procedural issues under the WTO dispute settlement procedures.
Dr. Satu Limaye is Director of the East West Center in Washington where he also directs the Asia Matters for America initiative and edits the Asia Pacific Bulletin. He is also Senior Advisor, Center for Naval Analyses (CNA) and Senior Fellow on Asia History and Policy at the Foreign Policy Institute at Paul H. Nitze School of International Studies (SAIS). Earlier, Dr. Limaye served on the research staff of the Strategy, Forces & Resources Division at the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) and Director of Research & Publications at the Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies. He publishes and speaks widely on Asia-Pacific regional issues and supports various foundation, fellowship and professional organizations. He is a magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Georgetown University and received his doctorate from Oxford University (Magdalen College) where he was a George C. Marshall Scholar.
