Symposium: "Building U.S.-Japan Relations after the Second World War: Eight Decades of Security, Trade, and Trust"

Bush-Koizumi handshake

Date and Time

February 6, 2026
02:00PM - 04:00PM EST

Location

CGIS South, S020 Belfer Case Study Room. 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA

Speakers:

"The Security of Japan, an Island State in the ‘Far East’: Past and Present” 

Kaoru Iokibe

Professor, Graduate Schools for Law and Politics, The University of Tokyo

 

“Launching Japan’s Postwar 'Trading State': Bureaucratic Conflict between Diplomacy and Economic Agencies, 1945–1956” 

Masaya Inoue

Professor, Faculty of Law, Department of Political Science, Keio University

 

“The Dilemma of Dependence and Independence: The Linkage between Japan’s Economy and Security in the 1950s” 

Ayako Kusunoki

Professor, International Research Center for Japanese Studies

 

“Experiences, Perspectives, and Encouragements: Edwin and Haru Reischauer’s View of 20th-Century Japanese Democracy”

Ryota Murai

Professor, Faculty of Law, Department of Political Science, Komazawa University

 

Discussants: 

Andrew Gordon, Lee and Juliet Folger Fund Professor of History, Harvard University

Christina L. Davis, Edwin O. Reischauer Professor of Japanese Politics, Department of Government; Director, Program on US-Japan Relations, Harvard University

Moderator:

Susan J. Pharr, Edwin O. Reischauer Research Professor of Japanese Politics; Senior Adviser, Program on US-Japan Relations, Harvard University

 

Registration is not required, but appreciated for planning purposes.

 

This symposium is co-sponsored by the Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA), the Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies, the Japan Society of Boston, the Harvard Kennedy School Japan Caucus, and the Harvard Undergraduate Japan Policy Network (HUJPN).