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The Institute for Japanese Studies presents:
The Indo-Pacific as Japan’s 21st-Century Grand Strategy
Abstract: The rise of Japan’s Indo-Pacific strategy in the late 2010s crystalizes the configuration of Japan’s 21st century grand strategy. This grand strategy utilizes Japan’s liminal power between the East and the West, and its interchangeable use of economic and security foreign policy instruments with the aim of maintaining rules and standards in regional and global governance. With the evident decline of the US presence in the region, and China’s rising dominance as a global power, Japan now sits in a critical position where it can engage the regional order constructively by enforcing liberal rules constructed under the US hegemony and check China’s unreasonable behavior including the use of economic coercion. I will discuss Japan’s Indo-Pacific grand strategy with the emphasis on how it utilizes the Free and Open Indo-Pacific framework flexibly to create “like-minded” coalitions and advance Tokyo’s interest through rule-setting strategy towards stable regional order. Download the PDF flyer here.
Dr. Saori N. Katada is Professor of International Relations and the director of the Center for International Studies at University of Southern California. She is the author of Japan’s New Regional Reality: Geoeconomic Strategy in the Asia-Pacific published from Columbia University Press in 2020, which also came out in Japanese. She has co-authored two recent books: The BRICS and Collective Financial Statecraft (Oxford University Press, 2017), and Taming Japan’s Deflation: The Debate over Unconventional Monetary Policy (Cornell University Press, 2018). She also publishes on geoeconomics, international political economy of trade and finance, monetary policy as well as Japan and the Indo-Pacific. She has her Ph.D. is from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Political Science), and her B.A. from Hitotsubashi University (Tokyo). Before joining USC, she served as a researcher at the World Bank in Washington D.C., and as International Program officer at the UNDP in Mexico City.
Dr. Ji Young Choi is Director of East Asian Studies and Associate Professor of Government and Politics at Ohio Wesleyan University. He specializes in international relations history and theories, international political economy, foreign policy, and East Asian security and political economy. His research interests are in the rise and fall of nations or great powers, the politics of economic and financial globalization, East Asian regionalism, US-China relations, and Korean politics and economy. He published many articles in peer-reviewed journals including International Politics and Asian Perspective. His new book, Politics of South Korea: A Comprehensive Introduction (Lynne Rienner Publishers) is forthcoming this summer! This book is an updated and well-balanced thematic and comprehensive introduction to Korea with analyses of topics from international and comparative perspectives. It includes a timely subject on the “the rise of the culture industry and the 4th industrial revolution” and covers the new trend of the K-Pop industry.
If you require an accommodation, such as live captioning, to participate in this event, please contact EASC at easc@osu.edu. Requests made at least two weeks in advance of the event will generally allow us to provide seamless access, but the university will make every effort to meet requests made after this date.
This event is supported by a U.S. Department of Education Title VI grant to The Ohio State University East Asian Studies Center.
The Brad Richardson Memorial Fund Lectures were inaugurated in 2016 to address higher contemporary issues in Japanese studies and Japan’s international relations.
2024 Brad Richardson Memorial Lecture: The Indo-Pacific as Japan’s 21st-Century Grand Strategy by Saori Katada, University of Southern California with discussant Ji Young Choi, Ohio Wesleyan University, February 23, 2024, 1:30 – 3:30 p.m. ET. In person (Ohio State Campus: Journalism Building, Room 300)
2023 Brad Richardson Memorial Lecture: “Happiness in Ordinary Places: Lessons from Edo Japan” by Shigehisa Kuriyama, Harvard University, with post-lecture respondent Melissa Anne-Marie Curley, The Ohio State University, February 24, 2023, 4:00 – 6:30 p.m. ET. In person (Ohio State Campus: Jennings Hall, Room 001)
2022 Brad Richardson Memorial Lecture: "Bridging Divides: The Work of Cultural Ambassadorships in Contemporary Japan" by Christine Yano, University of Hawai'i at Manoa. With post-lecture discussant: Mari Noda, Professor, Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, Ohio State, February 21, 2022, 4:30 – 6:30 p.m. ET
2021 Brad Richardson Memorial Lecture: "The Challenge of Global Governance and Japan's Role" by Christina Davis, Director, Program on U.S.-Japan Relations, and Professor of Government, Harvard University. With post-lecture discussants: Mitch Lerner, Ohio State and Alexander Thomas, Ohio State, February 22, 2021
2020 Brad Richardson Memorial Lecture: "Effective Leadership in Japan: The Case of Shibusawa Eiichi, Entrepreneur and Philanthropist" by Gil Latz, The Ohio State University, Discussant: David Welch, The University of Waterloo, February 28, 2020
2019 Brad Richardson Memorial Lecture: "Abenomics: Escape from the Lost Two Decades of the Japanese Economy,” by Takatoshi Ito, Columbia University, February 22, 2019
2018 Brad Richardson Memorial Lecture: "Has Abenomics Revived the Japanese Economy? Comparative Macroeconomic Perspectives with the US Economy," by Takeo Hoshi, Stanford University, February 26, 2018
2017 Brad Richardson Memorial Lecture: "Japan’s Grand Strategy and the US-Japan Alliance," by Richard J. Samuels, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, February 17, 2017
2016 Brad Richardson Memorial Lecture: “Natural and Unnatural Disasters in the U.S.-Japan Comparative Perspectives: 3/11, 9/11, Asbestos, and the Unmaking of Japan’s Modern World,” by Brett Walker, Harvard University, March 4, 2016
Bradley M. Richardson, Professor Emeritus in Political Science, the founding Director of The Ohio State University Institute for Japanese Studies and a former Honorary Consul General of Japan for Ohio who continually tried to raise awareness of Japanese studies and U.S./Japan relations. We seek to continue his legacy through various academic, educational and outreach programs made possible with this funding.
Order of the Rising Sun Award (2008): Brad Richardson was honored with the Order of the Rising Sun, a national decoration that the Japanese government awards to individuals who have contributed greatly to the nation and the public in politics, business, culture and the arts. Brad Richardson was recognized for his outstanding accomplishments in Ohio State’s goals in international relations, education and exchange that relate to Japan to the U.S, Ohio and local communities.
Honorary Consul General of Japan for Ohio: Brad Richardson was Honorary Consul General of Japan for Ohio from 1999-2004 to strengthen the U.S.–Japan relations, especially through Japan’s growing ties with the State of Ohio.
Japan-America Society of Central Ohio (JASCO): Bard Richardson was a founding member of the Executive Board of the Japan-America Society of Central Ohio (JASCO) in 1997 and served many roles on its board and programming committee through 2015.
Ohio-Saitama Sister State Relationship: Through the Ohio-Saitama Sister State relationship, he established the Ohio-Saitama Company Internship program in which 88 Ohio students from 13 universities and 29 students from Saitama universities participated during 1991-2014.
Leadership on campus: Brad Richardson was the Founding Director of the Institute for Japanese Studies (IJS) from its inception in 1985 until 2002. He also was the Director of the East Asian Studies Center (EASC) during 1977-1980 and 1999-2002.
Scholarly pursuits: Brad Richardson was a leading scholar in Japanese politics as well as a notable academician, lecturer and author on Japanese culture, business and politics, and received the Ohio State University Distinguished Scholar Award in 1996.
Education: Brad Richardson received his PhD from University of California at Berkeley, his MA from Columbia University and his AB from Harvard College. His languages included Japanese, Spanish, German and French. At Ohio State, he taught Government and Politics of Japan, including comparative political behavior. He had over 20 publications, such as, “Political Parties in Japan,” and “Japan’s 1955 System and Beyond,” in Political Parties and Democracy, eds. L. Diamond and R. Gunther, John Hopkins University Press, 2002; and “Political Traditions and Political Change: The Significance of Postwar Japanese politics for Political science,” Annual Review of Political Science, (with D. Patterson) 4, 93-115, 2001.
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