Letter from the Director

August 28, 2026

Dear Friends,

I hope you have had a productive and enjoyable summer. As the new academic year begins, I am pleased to share an update from the Program on U.S.-Japan Relations.

As the 75th anniversary of the signing of the San Francisco Peace Treaty approaches on September 8, we celebrate the remarkable postwar transformation of Japan and the United States from enemies into close allies, as well as the peace and prosperity their partnership has helped sustain.

Our July 10 Tokyo Symposium, “Constructing New Global Orders,” brought together business leaders, policymakers, and scholars to consider shifting geopolitics and the future of U.S. alliances. Georgetown University Professor Victor Cha opened the program, followed by a panel led by Japan International Cooperation Agency President Tanaka Akihiko with former Program associates Toyoda Asako (1995–96), Ito Asei (2023–24), and Akita Hiroyuki (2005–06). Co-hosted with Keidanren and the Keizai Koho Center, the symposium also welcomed members of the Harvard Club of Japan and Program alumni. We are grateful to the Toshiba International Foundation for its generous support.

At the end of this message, you will find links to the excellent research papers completed by our 2025–26 associates. I congratulate them on their hard work and accomplishments.

This fall, we are pleased to welcome ten affiliates—postdoctoral fellows, visiting scholars, and practitioners—whose research spans Japan’s political system, cultural and arts policy, and U.S.-Japan comparisons in education. Our new offices on the second floor of CGIS South bring Program affiliates together with colleagues from other regional centers.

Our Monday seminar series (12:00–1:00 p.m.) begins September 28 with University of Pennsylvania Professor Dan Smith; please see the fall seminar schedule for the full program. We also co-sponsor the Japanese Politics Online Seminar Series (JPOSS), which presents new political science research on Japan and welcomes proposals from prospective speakers.

We are grateful to the Japan Foundation for supporting our project, “Technology, Society, and Geopolitics: Japan in a Globalized Economy.” The grant will bring University of Montana Professor Kristin Vekasi to Harvard on November 16. Japan Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow Timothy Cichanowicz will speak on October 19 on “Filtering Special Interests: How Institutions Shape the Politics of Trade Securitization” and teach a spring course, Japan in the World, in the Department of Government.

Student partnerships remain central to our work. The Harvard Undergraduate Japan Policy Network (HUJPN) engages students through events and consulting projects on contemporary issues facing Japan, while the Harvard Undergraduate Japan Initiative connects Harvard students with peers in Japan. We also look forward to events with the Harvard Kennedy School Japan Caucus and to continuing our support for the Vogel juku, founded by Ezra Vogel to foster discussion among students from Japan across the Boston area.

Our website features the latest social science research on contemporary Japan, including the Occasional Paper Series, seminar blogs, and publications by Program-affiliated scholars. With nearly 700 alumni, we also invite you to explore the Alumni Directory. For updates, subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Bluesky, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram; selected event recordings are available on YouTube and SoundCloud.

We congratulate Shinju Fujihira on becoming president of the Showa Boston Institute and Sophie Welsh on her new role as political assistant at the Consulate General of Japan in Boston. We are so grateful to their service for the program for many years. We remain grateful to the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs and the Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies for their continuing partnership.

The start of the academic year brings new beginnings and new opportunities for friendship. I hope you will find ways to deepen your connection with Japan and with the Program on U.S.-Japan Relations in the year ahead.

Sincerely,

Christina

Christina L. Davis
Director, Program on U.S.-Japan Relations
Edwin O. Reischauer Professor of Japanese Politics
Harvard University