Robert Ward hosts Ambassador Miyagawa Makio, former senior Japanese diplomat, and Professor Michishita Narushige, Professor of International Security Studies at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) and a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, for an in-depth discussion on the recent reform of Japan’s defence-export policy.

Together, they explore:

• The historical background of Japan’s defence-export policy
• The recent shift in Japan’s defence-export policy
• The perspectives of Japan’s US ally and strategic partners on the recent policy shift
• Opportunities and challenges for Japan as a defence equipment and technology exporter

Recommended readings from our guests:

• Agawa Naoyuki, Friendship Across the Seas: The US Navy and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, (Tokyo: Japan Publishing Industry Foundation for Culture, 2019), 308pp.
• Doi Yasuaki, Tainichi Keizai Sensō: 1939–1941 [Economic War against Japan: 1939–1941], (Tokyo: Chuokoron-Shinsha, 2002), 302pp.
• Tobe Ryoichi, Teramoto Yoshinari, Kamata Shinichi, Suginoo Yoshio, Murai Tomohide and Nonaka Ikujiro, Shippai no Honshitsu [The Essence of Failure: An Organisational Study of the Imperial Japanese Military], (Tokyo: Diamond, 1984), 304pp.
• Michishita Narushige, The Maritime Strategy and the US–Japan Alliance: Fighting the Cold War in the Pacific, (Washington DC: Georgetown University Press, forthcoming 2027).

We hope you enjoy the episode. Please follow, rate, and subscribe to Japan Memo on your preferred podcast platform. If you have any comments or questions, please contact us at japanchair@iiss.org.

Date recorded: 23 April 2026

Japan Memo is recorded and produced at the IISS in London.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Robert Ward hosts Katada Saori, Professor of International Relations and the Director of the Center of International Studies at the University of Southern California, and Yamada Satoshi Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Geoeconomics (IOG), for an in-depth discussion on the current state and future direction of Japan-US economic security.

Together, they explore:

• The historical and institutional development of Japan’s economic statecraft
• The recent evolution of economic security in Japan
• Japan-US cooperation in advanced technologies and business for economic security
• The future development of Japan’s engagement in economic security with the Global South – with or without the US.

Recommended readings from our guests:

• Institute of Geoeconomics, Survey results of 100 Japanese companies on economic security 2023. (Tokyo: Institute of Geoeconomics, 2024) 58pp.
• Institute of Geoeconomics (Ed.) introduction to geoeconomics (in Japanese) 『はじめての地経学：経済が武器化した時代の見方』] (Tokyo: Asahi Shinsho, 2026) 288pp.
• Shiono, Msato, Kousuke Saito and Kota Umeda, The geoeconomics of generative AI development race: How emerging technologies can become national power (Tokyo: Institute of Geoeconomics, 2026).
• Pempel, T. John. Regime shift: Comparative dynamics of the Japanese political economy. (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1998), 288pp.
• Solís, Mireya, Dilemmas of a trading nation: Japan and the United States in the evolving Asia-Pacific order. (Washington DC, Brookings Institution Press, 2017), 180pp.
• Katada, Saori and Koga, Kei, Japan's grand strategy: Liminal power in an uncertain world. (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2026), 304pp.

We hope you enjoy the episode. Please follow, rate, and subscribe to Japan Memo on your preferred podcast platform. If you have any comments or questions, please contact us at japanchair@iiss.org.

Date recorded: 1 April 2026

Japan Memo is recorded and produced at the IISS in London.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Robert Ward hosts Dr Kristin Vekasi, the Mansfield Chair of Japan and Indo-Pacific Affairs at the University of Montana, and Professor Hatakeyama Kyoko, Professor of International Relations at the Graduate School of International Studies and Regional Development, University of Niigata Prefecture for an in-depth discussion on the current state and future direction of Japan’s critical mineral strategy.

Together, they explore: 

· Developments in Japan’s critical mineral strategy from 2010 when China briefly curbed exports of rare-earth elements to Japan.

· The implications of Japan’s response to the 2010 crisis for Beijing’s recent controls on exports of dual-use products to Japan.

· The strategic importance of deep-sea rare earths around Minami-Torishima Island.

· The future trajectory of Japan’s critical mineral strategy in cooperation with the US and European countries.

Recommended readings from our guests: 

· Catalinac, Amy, Dominance through division: Group-based clientelism in Japan (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2025), 365pp.

· Harris, Tobias S. The iconoclast: Shinzō Abe and the new Japan (London: C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd., 2020), 392pp.

· Higuchi, Shinji, Bullet Train Explosion [Shinkansen Bakuhatsu] (Tokyo, Episcope, 2025) [Netflix film]

· Ward, Robert, Evaluating Japan’s new grand strategy (London: Routledge, 2025). 156pp.

We hope you enjoy the episode. Please follow, rate, and subscribe to Japan Memo on your preferred podcast platform. If you have any comments or questions, please contact us at japanchair@iiss.org.

Date recorded: 3 March 2026

Japan Memo is recorded and produced at the IISS in London.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.