#  Symposium / Japan in the Age of Disruption: Domestic and Global Policy Challenges 

 



    ![Thumbnail for 3/30 conference. Source: Official Website of the Prime Minister’s Office of Japan: https://japan.kantei.go.jp/104/actions/202510/28yokosuka.html](/sites/g/files/omnuum8416/files/styles/hwp_5_4__480x385/public/2026-03/HarvardSites%20Event%20Thumbnail%20and%20Vertical%20Card%20-%20Image%20Only.jpg?itok=_6kiS7f_) 

 



 

####  calendar\_today Date and Time 

 **March 30, 2026** 

 10:00AM - 04:30PM EDT 

####  pin\_drop Location 

 **Bowie-Vernon Conference Room (K262), CGIS Knafel Bldg., 1737 Cambridge St. and online via Zoom (registration required).**  



 

 [ Click here to register for Zoom. arrow\_circle\_right ](https://harvard.zoom.us/meeting/register/90usJ99FRwOCdlB5CqwEgQ) 

 



 

All panels are chaired by [**Christina L. Davis**](https://cldavis.scholars.harvard.edu/), Edwin O. Reischauer Professor of Japanese Politics, Department of Government; and Director, Program on U.S.-Japan Relations, Harvard University.

## 10:00-11:15 am: "Geopolitics of Alliances and International Institutions"

- "U.S.-Japan Defense Cooperation, 1951-1978: A Reassessment"  
    [**Mayumi Itayama**](https://us-japan.wcfia.harvard.edu/people/mayumi-itayama)  
    Visiting Scholar, Program on US-Japan Relations, Harvard University; Associate Professor, Department of Political Science and Economics, Kokushikan University
- "The Strategic Intent behind China’s Nuclear Buildup"  
    [**Kuniharu Kakihara**](https://us-japan.wcfia.harvard.edu/people/kuniharu-kakihara)  
    Associate, Program on US-Japan Relations, Harvard University; Fellow, Harvard University Asia Center; Retired Lieutenant General, Japan Air Self-Defense Force
- "Shackling the Major Powers: Bilateral Trade Effects in International Institutions"  
    [**Tomoko Takahashi**](https://us-japan.wcfia.harvard.edu/people/tomoko-takahashi)  
    Visiting Scholar, Program on US-Japan Relations, Harvard University; Assistant Professor, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University
- **Discussant:** [**Thomas Berger**](https://www.bu.edu/pardeeschool/profile/thomas-berger/)  
    Professor of International Relations, Pardee School of Global Studies, Boston University

## 11:30 am-12:45 pm: "Innovations in Law and Business"

- "Improving Deliberative Collaboration among Professional and Lay Judges in Japan’s Saiban-in Trials: Practical Lessons from U.S. Jury Instructions"  
    [**Mayu Kannari**](https://us-japan.wcfia.harvard.edu/people/mayu-kannari)  
    Associate, Program on US-Japan Relations, Harvard University; Judge, Chiba District Court, Japan
- "Bridging Entrepreneurship Education Between the US and Japan"  
    [**Yoshiatsu Murata**](https://us-japan.wcfia.harvard.edu/people/yoshiatsu-murata)  
    Associate, Program on US-Japan Relations, Harvard University; Chief Real Estate Analyst, Sasayama
- "Translating Transparency: Institutional Pathways of ESG Disclosure in the U.S., the UK, Germany, and Japan "  
    [**Nobukazu Nakazawa**](https://us-japan.wcfia.harvard.edu/people/nobukazu-nakazawa)  
    Associate, Program on US-Japan Relations, Harvard University; Managing Director, Human Resources Development, Development Bank of Japan
- **Discussant:** [**Daniel Aldrich**](https://cssh.northeastern.edu/faculty/daniel-aldrich/)  
    Dean's Professor of Resilience, Director, MS Resilience Studies Program, Northeastern University

## 2:00-3:15 pm: "Trade, Supply Chains, and Economic Security"

- "The Global Impact of Economic Policy Changes through the Supply Chain"  
    [**Taiji Furusawa**](https://us-japan.wcfia.harvard.edu/people/taiji-furusawa)  
    Visiting Scholar, Program on US-Japan Relations, Harvard University; Professor, Graduate School of Economics, University of Tokyo
- "Materials Industries in the Global Supply Chain: Industrial Policy and Economic Security"  
    [**Toshiki Kita**](https://us-japan.wcfia.harvard.edu/people/toshiki-kita)  
    Associate Principal Deputy Director, Program on US-Japan Relations, Harvard University, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), Japan
- "Unveiling the Utilization Structure of the U.S.-Japan Trade Agreement"  
    [**Fumiharu Ito** ](https://us-japan.wcfia.harvard.edu/people/fumiharu-ito)  
    Associate, Program on US-Japan Relations, Harvard University; Deputy Director, Ministry of Finance, Japan
- **Discussant:** [**William Grimes**](https://www.bu.edu/pardeeschool/profile/william-w-grimes/)  
    Professor of International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University

## 3:30 pm-4:30 pm: "Political Economy of Energy Transitions"

- "Entangled Fishermen: The Decline of the Fishing Industry and the Rise of Anti-Nuclear Social Movements in Japan"  
    [**Toshiaki Yoshida**](https://us-japan.wcfia.harvard.edu/people/toshiaki-yoshida)  
    Japan Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow, Program on US-Japan Relations, Harvard University; PhD, Department of Political Science, Northeastern University
- "Regulation or Markets? Divergent Paths of Clean Energy Transitions in California and Texas"  
    [**Yutaka Yamaguchi**](https://us-japan.wcfia.harvard.edu/people/yutaka-yamaguchi)  
    Associate, Program on US-Japan Relations, Harvard University; Broadcast journalist, TV-Asahi
- **Discussant:** [**Mary Alice Haddad**](https://mahaddad.wescreates.wesleyan.edu/facultypage/)  
    John E. Andrus Professor of Government, Professor of East Asian Studies, and Professor of Environmental Studies, Wesleyan University

*Co-sponsored by the Harvard Kennedy School Japan Caucus and the Harvard Undergraduate Japan Policy Network (HUJPN).*

 ![Poster for 3/30 conference](/sites/g/files/omnuum8416/files/2026-03/Poster_0.jpg)

 

Image credit: [Official Website of the Prime Minister’s Office of Japan](https://japan.kantei.go.jp/104/actions/202510/28yokosuka.html)



 

 



 

 

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