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In this lecture Professor Junya Nishino (Keio University, Japan) elucidated Japan’s ‘three-pillared’ approach to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). Firstly, Japan has pursued engagement and dialogue, which can be seen in events such as the 2002 Pyongyang Declaration, 6-party talks aimed at finding solutions to security concerns in Northeast Asia, and the 2014 Stockholm Agreement. Secondly, Japan has supported the use of pressure by imposing unilateral sanctions and supporting UN Security Council sanctions against North Korea for its nuclear program. Thirdly, it has promoted defense and deterrence by working with the United States and South Korea as part of a ‘defense triangle’. In this context, Professor Nishino’s lecture emphasized the need for a strong Japan-ROK relationship in order to confront the threat emanating from the DPRK.  

Speaker Biography: NISHINO Junya is Professor, Department of Political Science, Faculty of Law and Politics, Keio University in Tokyo, Japan. He also serves as Director of the Center for Contemporary Korean Studies at Keio University. He received his Ph.D. in Political Science from Yonsei University. His research focuses on contemporary Korean politics, international relations of East Asia and Japan-Korea relations. His research focuses on contemporary Korean politics, international relations in East Asia and Japan-Korea relations. Dr. Nishino was a Japan Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and a Visiting Scholar at the Sigur Center for Asian Studies, George Washington University in 2012-2013. He was also an Exchange Scholar at the Harvard-Yenching Institute in 2011-2012. Previously he served as a Special Analyst on Korean Affairs in the Intelligence and Analysis Service of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2006-2007), and was a Special Assistant on Korean Politics at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul (2002-2004). Dr. Nishino received his B.A. and M.A. from Keio University, and Ph.D. in Political Science from Yonsei University in South Korea.

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Lecture Abstract: When the Liberal Democratic Party in Japan regained power led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in December 2012, Japan’s government embarked on a set of economic policies dubbed "Abenomics." Abenomics aimed to bring Japan back from stagnation and restore its growth potential. Prime Minister Abe is now the longest serving Japanese Prime Minister in history. Abenomics looks seemingly successful as well. Japan’s economy has been in the longest expansion phase in the post war era. The unemployment rate is so low that many employers claim they cannot find workers. Yet, the major goals of Abenomics set at the beginning, such as 2% inflation rate and 2% real economic growth, have not been achieved. Has Abenomics really succeeded? What challenges remain?  

Speaker Bio: Takeo Hoshi is Professor in the Graduate School of Economics, University of Tokyo. He is the former Henri and Tomoye Takahashi Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI), Professor of Finance (by courtesy) at the Graduate School of Business, and Director of the Japan Program at the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC), all at Stanford University. He served in these roles until August 2019  Prior to 2012, Professor Hoshi was Pacific Economic Cooperation Professor in International Economic Relations at the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies (IR/PS) at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD).  His book titled Corporate Financing and Governance in Japan: The Road to the Future (MIT Press, 2001), co-authored with Anil Kashyap (Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago), received the Nikkei Award for the Best Economics Books of 2002. His other publications include, “Japanese Government Debt and Sustainability of Fiscal Policy” (with Takero Doi and Tatsuyoshi Okimoto), Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, 2011; “Corporate Restructuring in Japan during the Lost Decade” (with Satoshi Koibuchi and Ulrike Schaede), “Japan’s Bubble, Deflation, and Long-term Stagnation,” MIT Press, 2011 (Koichi Hamada, Anil K Kashyap, and David E. Weinstein, eds.); “Will the U.S. Bank Recapitalization Succeed? Eight Lessons from Japan” (with Anil Kashyap), Journal of Financial Economics, 2010; and “Zombie Lending and Depressed Restructuring in Japan” (joint with Ricardo Caballero and Anil Kashyap), American Economic Review, December 2008.  Hoshi received his BA in social sciences from the University of Tokyo in 1983, and a PhD in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1988.

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In 1997, Japan hosted the international meeting that produced the Kyoto Protocol, a major agreement to confront climate change. However, the country’s climate change policies have come under intense scrutiny in recent years. Japan regularly ranks toward the bottom of international climate change rankings, and critics have condemned its promotion of coal-fired power plants. Prime Minister Abe Shinzo has sought to reclaim Japanese climate change leadership, for example highlighting the issue as host of the G20 Osaka Summit. What will it take for Japan to reemerge as a climate change leader? In this panel, Professor Phillip Lipscy provided an overview of climate change politics in Japan, explaining why Japan has struggled to reduce emissions in recent years. Mari Yoshitaka, a leading expert in environment business and environment finance who has served on numerous Japanese government policy committees, discussed Japan’s climate resilience and energy security challenges.

Moderator: Matthew Hoffman, Professor of Political Science, University of Toronto

Panelists: Phillip Y. Lipscy, Associate Professor of Political Science, Director of the Centre for the Study of Global Japan, University of Toronto   Mari Yoshitaka, Chief Environmental & Social Strategist for Environmental Strategy Advisory Division at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co., Ltd.; Lecturer in the Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University