Monday Asia Events October 23, 2023

CHINA’S STANDING IN THE GLOBAL SOUTH – TAKEAWAYS FROM THE BELT AND ROAD FORUM. 10/23, 9:00am (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Atlantic Council. Speakers: Victoria Chonn-Ching, Nonresident Fellow, Atlantic Council; Michael Schuman, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Atlantic Council; Oscar Meywa Otele, Senior Lecturer, Department of Political Science and Public Administration, University of Nairobi; Sanusha Naidu, Senior Research Associate, Institute for Global Dialogue. 

US LAUNCH OF THE 2023 OECD GOING FOR GROWTH REPORT. 10/23, 9:00am-12:15pm (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Peterson Institute (PIIE). Speakers: Adam S. Posen, PIIE president; Luiz de Mello, director of the Policy Studies Branch at the Economics Department of the OECD. 

BEYOND CLIMATE: HOW NATURE LOSS UNDERMINES PEACE AND SECURITY. 10/23, 10:00am (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsors: Center for American Progress (CAP); The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD); World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Speakers: Monica Medina, President and CEO, Wildlife Conservation Society; Andrew Zolli, Chief Impact Officer, Planet; Dr Winnie Kiiru, Executive Director, Mpala Research Centre; Dr Erin McFee, Professor of Practice, Climate Security, William J. Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies.

 CYBERSECURITY & INFRASTRUCTURE SECURITY AGENCY’S (CISA) EVOLVING .GOV MISSION: REPORT ROLLOUT EVENT. 10/23, 10:00am-Noon (EDT), HYBRID. Sponsor: CSIS, International Security Program. Speakers: Emily Harding, Deputy Director and Senior Fellow, International Security Program; Malcolm Harkins, Former Chief Security & Privacy Officer, Intel; Benjamin Jensen, Senior Fellow, Future War, Gaming, and Strategy, and International Security Program; Dr. Phyllis Schneck, Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer, Northrop Grumman; David Simon, Global Co-Head of Cybersecurity & Data Privacy, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher, & Flom; Suzanne Spaulding, Senior Adviser for Homeland Security, CSIS. 

HUMANITARIAN EXEMPTIONS TO SANCTIONS IN NORTH KOREA. 10/23, 12:30pm (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: National Committee on North Korea. Speakers: Hazel Smith, Professorial Research Associate at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Professor Emerita in International Security at Cranfield University, UK, Advisory fellow at the North Korea Economic Studies section of the Korea Development Institute (KDI) Seoul, Fellow, the Royal Society of Arts since 1996; Troy Stangarone, Senior Director, Fellow at the Korea Economic Institute (KEI). 

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FOR ENERGY: AI & ENERGY TECHNOLOGY DISCOVERY. 10/23, Noon-1:00pm (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. Speaker: Rick L. Stevens, Associate Laboratory Director for Computing, Environment, and Life Sciences, Argonne National Laboratory. 

THE OUTLOOK FOR ISRAEL’S MILITARY CAMPAIGN AGAINST HAMAS. 10/23, 1:00-2:00pm (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: CSIS. Speakers: Jon B. Alterman, senior vice president, Middle East Program Director, CSIS; Emily Harding, Deputy Director, International Security Program, CSIS; Norman T. Roule, Senior Adviser, Transnational Threats Project, CSIS. 

FUTURE OF THE U.S.-ISRAEL ALLIANCE AT 75. 10/23, 1:00-5:00pm (EDT), IN PERSON ONLY. Sponsor: Heritage Foundation. Speakers: Victoria Coates, Ph.D., Vice President, Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy, The Heritage Foundation; Robert Greenway, Director, Center for National Defense, The Heritage Foundation; Eyal Hulata, Ph.D., Senior International Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies; Ellie Cohanim, Senior Fellow, Independent Women's Forum; Ludovic Hood, Senior Advisor, Office of the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, U.S. Department of State; Kenneth L. Marcus, Founder and Chairman, Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law; Charles Asher Small, DPhil., Founding Director and President, Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy; Amb. Ronald S. Lauder, President, World Jewish Congress. 

PUTIN’S “TURN TO THE EAST” IN THE XI JINPING ERA. 10/23, 2:00-3:00pm (EDT), HYBRID. Sponsor: Wilson Center. Speakers: co- editor Gilbert Rozman, Emeritus Musgrave Professor of Sociology, Princeton University; Editor-in-Chief, The Asan Forum; Gaye Christoffersen Co-Editor, Putin’s “Turn to the East” in the Xi Jinping Era. PURCHASE BOOK: https://amzn.to/46wdM3C

THE FIRST 25 YEARS: UNITED STATES COMMISSION ON INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM (USCIRF) ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND NEXT STEPS. 10/23, 3:00-5:00pm (EDT), IN PERSON ONLY. Sponsor: United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). Speakers: Abraham Cooper, Chair, USCIRF; Frederick A. Davie, Vice Chair, USCIRF; Frank Wolf, Commissioner, USCIRF; Don Nickles, Former Senator; Joe Lieberman, Former Senator; Tom Lantos, Former Co-Chair, Human Rights Commission (TLHRC). 

CONGRESS AND BIDEN'S INITIAL SUCCESS IN COUNTERING CHINA'S CHALLENGES. 10/23, 3:30pm (EDT), HYBRID. Sponsor: GW Elliott School Research Program. Speaker: Robert Sutter, Professor of Practice of International Affairs, Elliott School, George Washington University, Author Congress and China Policy: Past Episodic, Recent Enduring Influence. PURCHASE BOOK: https://amzn.to/3Fkqjep

DREAMS FOR A DECADE: INTERNATIONAL NUCLEAR ABOLITIONISM AND THE END OF THE COLD WAR. 10/23, 4:00-5:30pm (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Wilson Center. Speakers: Author Stephanie L. Freeman, Historian, US Department of State, Susan Colbourn, Associate Director of the Program in American Grand Strategy, Duke University; Svetlana Savranskaya, Member, History and Public Policy Program Advisory Board; Luc-André Brunet, Senior Lecturer in Contemporary International History, The Open University. PURCHASE BOOK: https://amzn.to/45yuQVh

THE WAR OVER CHINESE TALENT IN THE U.S.' WITH DAVID ZWEIG. 10/23, 4:30pm (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: China and the World Program, Columbia-Harvard. Speaker: David Zweig (Ph.D., The University of Michigan, 1983), Professor Emeritus, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and Distinguished Visiting Professor of Taipei School of Economics and Political Science, National Tsinghua University, Taiwan. 

VLADIMIR PUTIN’S RUSSIA: AND THE USES OF WAR. 10/23, 4:30-5:30pm (EDT), HYBRID. Sponsor: AEI. Speakers: author Leon Aron, Senior Fellow, AEI; Kori Schake, Director of Foreign and Defense Policy Studies, AEI. PURCHASE BOOK: https://amzn.to/3PReily/

NATIONAL OIL COMPANIES AND THE ENERGY TRANSITION: LOOKING TO COP28 AND BEYOND. 10/23, 5:00-7:00pm (EDT), HYBRID. Sponsor: Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia SIPA. Speakers: Erica Downs, Senior Research Scholar, Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia SIPA; Tatiana Mitrova, Research Fellow, Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia SIPA; Luisa Palacios, Senior Research Scholar, Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia SIPA; Karen E. Young, Senior Research Scholar, Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia SIPA. 

Abenomics and the Slowdown of Japan's Economy

Going into the July 10 Upper House elections, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has emphasized the success of his economic plan called "Abenomics." It consists of what he called “three arrows”: 1) bold monetary relaxation; 2) flexible application of fiscal stimulus; and 3) a growth strategy to spark private investment.  It is a clever public relations meme.

Launching the Upper House elections campaign on June 22, 2016, Abe spoke to a crowd in Kumamoto, a southern city struck by earthquakes and landslides in April.  He said, "This is an election to decide whether we will forge ahead strongly with economic policies, make Japan grow, the regions proper and everyone feel the benefits -- or return to a dark and stagnant era...Japan's economic is making steady progress and producing results.”  The Prime Minister cited Japan’s increasing tax revenue and tight labour market as evidence.

Public opinion, the media and major world economic institutions such as the IMF, World Bank, and OECD all question Abe's positive cast on Abenomics. According to the two recent polls conducted by the Kyodo News, over 60 percent of the Japanese public and the youth have lost confidence in the government's economic reform. In a nationwide telephone survey conducted on June 12th and 13th, “62.2 percent expressed doubt about the effectiveness of the ‘Abenomics’ policy mix, while 28.0 percent said the measures would improve the economy.” In an Internet survey result published on June 19th by the Kyodo News of 1,535 respondents from age 18-19, “62.5 percent expressed doubt about the effectiveness of the ‘Abenomics’ policy mix,” while 37.5 percent expected the measures to help improve the economy.

In May and June, the IMF, OECD, and the World Bank published reports examining the three arrows of Abenomics. They all forecast slower economic growth. The World Bank projected GDP growth at 0.7 percent in 2016 and 0.4 percent in 2017.” The IMF said that Japan would be the world's only shrinking advanced economy, projecting GDP growth of "0.5 percent in 2016 and –0.1 percent in 2017.” They note that consumption in Japan fell in “fiscal 2015, logging its second straight annual fall for the first time since comparable data began in fiscal 1994.” Price-adjusted real wages dropped for the fourth consecutive year in 2015. The average proportion of consumption spending in disposable income fell to 72.8 percent in January-March this year.

The World Bank assesses two arrows in Abenomics: monetary easing and fiscal stimulus in Global Economic Prospects: Divergences and Risks (174 pgs, June 7, 2016). It notes that negative interest rates, in contrast, “induced low inflation expectations and currency appreciation, raising concerns about the effectiveness of monetary policy.” On the fiscal side, “a supplementary budget with additional stimulus measures is expected to provide some support in 2016…but the rise of consumption tax to 10 percent, a 2 percent increase will balance out some of the growth effects.”

The IMF also reaches the conclusion that increasing the consumption tax in 2017 will affect growth in Japan, in World Economic Outlook, Too Slow for Too Long (230 pgs, April 12,2016). Commenting on the “third Arrow” of structural reform, the IMF suggests “the Japanese government to implement strategies to raise productivity, which are vital for tackling medium-term risks and raising potential output.” Income policies are needed to “bolster wage-price dynamics and increase monetary policy effectiveness.” Structural reforms should focus on “boosting the supply of labour (including of women), reforming labour markets to remove duality, further deregulating product and services markets, and supporting investment through corporate governance reform.”

Besides giving similar remarks on Abenomics, the OECD also doubts the positive results that mentioned by Abe. In the OECD Economic Outlook (316 pgs, June 1, 2016). The contraction of the labour market has only “a limited impact on nominal wage growth.” At the same time, low inflation expectations signal “inefficiency of the fiscal stimulus.”

In a June 22 editorial, "Abenomics and the Upper House election," the Japan Times questioned the success of Abenomics. The recovery that marked the first year of his new administration was short-lived. The nation’s gross domestic product, “which grew 2 percent in real terms in fiscal 2013, shrank 0.9 percent in fiscal 2014 and grew a sluggish 0.8 percent in fiscal 2015.” The underlying weakness in consumer spending — “particularly since the April 2014 consumption tax hike to 8 percent — dragged down growth, as the cost of living mostly rose faster than wage hikes” — which Abe boasts have been the sharpest since the turn of the century. And the reversal of the yen’s downtrend in recent months — “with the currency hitting 103-to-the-dollar range last week for the first time since August 2014 — threatens to pare the earnings of export-led major firms that had been inflated by the weak currency.” But the writer concludes:

Neither trumpeting Abenomics as if it’s a cure-all or denouncing it as a failure will be constructive. The Upper House election should let voters hand down their judgment.

By Research Intern Ms. Nora Qiu

Monday in Washington, December 7, 2015

December 7 - 74th anniversary (1941) of Imperial Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor Day honors the 2,400 people who died when the Japanese attacked the base in Hawaii on Dec. 7, 1941, which brought a war being fought largely in Europe to U.S. soil. Flags will be flown at half-staff at government locations to honor those who died, and many homes across the country will display the American flag.

A ceremony will be held Monday afternoon in Washington at the National World War II Memorial. In Honolulu, the annual Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade will extend a mile through the city Monday evening.

Many of the day's events from Pearl Harbor will be live-streamed at pearlharborevents.com, Participants will be able to ask questions about the attack from National Park Service experts.

In addition, the live-stream will show a special commemoration of the sinking of the USS Oklahoma with the loss of 429 crew, and observe interment in the hull of the USS Arizona of an urn with the ashes of Joseph Langdell, a former ensign on the ship. The events are sponsored by the park service, the U.S. Navy and the Pacific Historic Parks.

On Tuesday, a dive to the wreck of the USS Arizona by a Pacific National Monuments cultural resources chief will be broadcast live, and people can ask questions through Facebook.

NATURAL RESOURCES AND THE LAW OF THE SEA. 12/7, 9:00am-5:00pm, Lunch. Sponsor: International Law Institute. Speakers: Vladimir Golitsyn, President, International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea; Tullio Treves, Curtis Mallet-Prevost Colt & Mosle LLP; Judge Tomas Heidar, International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea; John Norton Moore, University of Virginia School of Law; Bernard Oxman, University of Miami School of Law; Sean Murphy, George Washington University School of Law; Paul Reichler, Foley Hoag LLP.

A DISCUSSION OF THE KEY ECONOMIC ISSUES IN ELECTION 2016. 12/7, 9:30-11:00am. Sponsor: Brookings. Speakers: Jared Bernstein, Senior Fellow, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities; Douglas Holtz-Eakin, President, American Action Forum; R. Glenn Hubbard, Dean, Russell L. Carson Professor of Finance and Economics, Columbia Business School; Neera Tanden, President, Center for American Progress.

OECD EXPERT BRIEFING: THE CHANGING FACE OF STRATEGIC CRISIS MANAGEMENT. 12/7, 10:00-11:00am. Sponsor: OECD. Speakers: Charles Baubion, Policy Analyst, High-level Risk Forum, OECD Public Governance and Territorial Development Directorate; Mads Ecklon, Head of Division, Center for Preparedness Planning and Crisis Management, Danish Emergency Management Agency; Nicolas Mueller, Head, Federal Crisis Management Training, Swiss Federal Chancellery; Jack Radisch, Project Manager, High-level Risk Forum, OECD Public Governance and Territorial Development Directorate; Eric Stern, Professor, Disaster Research Center, University of Delaware; Bengt Sundelius, Senior Adviser, Civil Contingencies Agency, Sweden.

THE COMPETITION FOR CAPITAL IN THE NATIONAL SECURITY SECTOR. 12/7, 10:40am-Noon. Sponsor: CSIS. Speakers: John Hamre, President and CEO, CSIS; Pierre Chao, Founding Partner, Renaissance Strategic Advisors.

TAIWAN’S ONGOING DEMOCRATIC DEVELOPMENT AND GROWING CHINESE MILITARY THREATS. 12/7, Noon, Lunch. Sponsor: International Assessment and Strategy Center (IASC). Speakers: Arthur Waldron, Lauder Professor, University of Pennsylvania, Vice President, IASC; Richard D. Fisher, Jr., Senior Fellow, IASC.

ASSESSING IRAN'S SUPPORT FOR REGIONAL MILITIAS. 12/7, Noon-1:00pm. Sponsor: Middle East Institute (MEI). Speakers: Fouad Hamdan, Founder and Executive Director, Rule of Law Foundation; Kate Seelye, Senior Vice President, MEI.

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SHADOW FINANCIAL REGULATORY COMMITTEE CONFERENCE. 12/7, Noon-1:30pm. Sponsor: AEI. Speakers: Franklin Edwards, Columbia University; Robert A. Eisenbeis, Cumberland Advisors; Richard J. Herring, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania; Edward Kane, Boston College; George G. Kaufman, Loyola University Chicago; Albert S. Kyle, University of Maryland; Erik R. Sirri, Babson College; Chester Spatt, Carnegie Mellon University.

DEFEATING THE ISLAMIST EXTREMISTS: A GLOBAL STRATEGY FOR COMBATING AL QAEDA AND THE ISLAMIC STATE. 12/7, 2:30-4:30pm. Sponsor: AEI. Speakers: General Michael T. Flynn, US Army (ret.); Mary Habeck, Visiting Scholar, AEI; Seth Jones, Director, International Security and Defense Policy Center, RAND Corporation; Frederick W. Kagan, Christopher DeMuth Chair and Director, Critical Threats Project, AEI; Katherine Zimmerman, Research Fellow, AEI.

BOOK LAUNCH: A WORLD OF THREE CULTURES BY AMBASSADOR MIGUEL BASÁŇEZ. 12/7, 5:30-7:30pm. Sponsor: Wilson Center's Mexico Institute. Speakers: Author Miguel E. Basáňez, Ambassador of Mexico to the United States; Alejandro Moreno, Professor of Political Science, Instituto Tecnologico de Mexico; Enrique Alduncin, Director General, Alduncin y Asociados S.A. de C.V. The event will be in Spanish, no simultaneous interpretation will be provided.

Prime Minister of Japan’s Schedule April 13-19, 2015

Monday, April 13, 2015
AM
12:00 At private residence (no visitors)
08:00 At private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo (no morning visitors)
09:12 Depart from private residence
09:26 Arrive at office
09:55 Meet with Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Saiki Akitaka
10:27 End meeting with Mr. Saiki
10:35 Meet with Director of National Security Council (NSC) Yachi Shotaro, Director General of Secretariat of Cabinet Office’s International Peace Cooperation Headquarters
Yamamoto Jota, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA)’s Director-General of Foreign Policy Bureau Hiramatsu Kenji and Director-General of North American Affairs Bureau Tomita Koji, and Ministry of Defense (MOD)’s Director-General of Bureau of Defense Policy Kuroe Tetsuro
11:20 End meeting with Mr. Yachi, Mr. Yamamoto, Mr. Hiramatsu, Mr. Tomita, and Mr. Kuroe
11:22 Depart from office
11:31 Arrive at Iwatani Hydrogen Fuelling Station in Shiba Park, Tokyo. Attend opening ceremony, deliver address
11:46 Depart from Iwatani Hydrogen Fuelling Station
11:55 Arrive at office

PM
12:04 Ruling Party Liaison Conference
12:27 Conference ends
12:29 Film video message for the Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Spine Surgery and Related Research
12:36 Finish filming
01:35 Speak with Okazaki Akiko, wife of former resident Ambassador to Thailand the late Okazaki Hisahiko
01:40 Finish speaking with Ms. Okazaki
02:34 Receive a courtesy call from Vice President of the Plurinational State of Bolivia Alvaro Marcelo Garcia Linera
02:49 Courtesy call ends
02:51 Meet with Chairman of Science and Technology in Society (STS) Forum and former Minister of State for Science and Technology Policy Omi Koji and LDP Lower House member Omi Asako
03:26 End meeting with Mr. Omi and Ms. Omi
04:57 Depart from office
04:59 Arrive at Diet
05:00 Enter LDP President’s Office
05:01 LDP Officers Meeting
05:25 Meeting ends
05:26 Meet with LDP Vice-President Komura Masahiko, LDP Secretary-General Tanigaki Sadakazu, Chairman of LDP General Council Nikai Toshihiro, and colleagues
05:41 End meeting with Mr. Komura, Mr. Tanigaki, Mr. Nikai, and colleagues
05:42 Leave LDP President’s Office
05:43 Depart from Diet
05:45 Arrive at office
05:56 Meet with Minister in charge of Economic Revitalization Amari Akira. Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI)’s Director-General of Economic and Industrial Policy Bureau Sugawara Ikuro also attends
06:13 End meeting with Mr. Amari
06:18 Depart from office
06:31 Arrive at Chinese restaurant Turandot in Akasaka, Tokyo. Dinner meeting with Vice-Chairman of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), President of Marubeni Kokubu Fumiya, Executive Vice-President of Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation Ota Katsuhiko, and others
07:08 Depart from restaurant
07:19 Arrive at Izumi Garden Tower in Roppongi, Tokyo. Dinner meeting with Governor of Kyoto Prefecture Yamada Keiji, President of Keio University Seike Atsushi, Chairman of Obayashi Corporation Obayashi Takeo, President of Nippon Life Insurance Company Tsutsui Yoshinobu, and colleagues at Sumitomo Hall within building
09:11 Depart from Izumi Garden Tower
09:28 Arrive at private residence

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

AM
12:00 At private residence (no visitors)
08:00 At private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo (no morning visitors)
08:06 Depart from private residence
08:20 Arrive at office
08:27 Cabinet Meeting begins
08:37 Cabinet Meeting ends
08:40 Intellectual Property Strategy Headquarters meeting
09:00 Meeting ends
09:27 Meet with Chairman of Interchange Association, Japan (the representative office of Japan in Taiwan) Ohashi Mitsuo
10:04 End meeting with Mr. Ohashi
10:05 Speak with MOD’s Director-General of Bureau of Personnel and Education Manabe Ro and Vice-Chief of Joint Staff Council Iwata Kiyofumi
10:15 Finish speaking with Mr. Manabe and Mr. Iwata
10:31 Depart from office
10:34 Arrive at LDP Party Headquarters
10:35 Enter President’s Reception Room
10:37 Meet with Yokoda Sakie and Yokoda Shigeru, the parents of Yokoda Megumi who is a Japanese citizen abducted by North Korean government
10:54 End meeting with Mr. and Mrs. Yokoda
10:55 Leave room
10:56 Depart from LDP Party Headquarters
10:59 Arrive at office
11:20 Meet with Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Saiki Akitaka
11:45 End meeting with Mr. Saiki

PM
01:13 Meet with Secretary-General of Headquarters for Abduction Issue Ishikawa Shoichiro
01:33 End meeting with Mr. Ishikawa
02:26 Receive a courtesy call from Minister for President’s Office of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar Aung Min
02:36 Courtesy call ends
03:01 Receive a courtesy call from Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Chairman of Executive Affairs Authority of the Government of Abu Dhabi
03:37 Courtesy call ends
03:44 Director of NSC Yachi Shotaro, Director of Cabinet Intelligence Kitamura Shigeru, National Policy Agency (NPA)’s Director of Security Bureau Takahashi Kiyotaka, and Deputy Director-General of Public Security Intelligence Agency (PSIA) Sugiyama Haruki enter
03:57 Mr. Yachi, Mr. Takahashi, and Mr. Sugiyama leave
04:14 Mr. Kitamura leaves
04:15 Meet with Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Saiki Akitaka and Director-General of Intelligence and Analysis Service Oka Hiroshi
04:54 End meeting with Mr. Saiki and Mr. Oka
05:04 Receive a courtesy call from the Japan Cherry Blossom Queen and Miss Japan Goddess of Greenery on the occasion of the Green Feather Campaign
05:10 Courtesy call ends
05:23 Speak with Governor of Kanagawa Prefecture Kuroiwa Yuji
05:24 Finish speaking with Mr. Kuroiwa
05:38 Depart from office
05:44 Arrive at Imperial Hotel in Uchisaiwai-cho, Tokyo. Attend the Presidents’ Conference of the Association of Japan Local Banks in banquet hall Mainoma within hotel
06:02 Depart from hotel
06:08 Arrive at office
06:09 Council on Overcoming Population Decline and Vitalizing Local Economy in Japan meeting
06:18 Council meeting ends
06:48 Depart from office
06:56 Arrive at Japanese restaurant Asada in Akasaka, Tokyo. Dinner meeting with Chairman of the board of Mitsubishi Corporation Yorihiko Kojima and President of Fujifilm Holdings Komori Shigetaka
08:44 Depart from restaurant
09:01 Arrive at private residence

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

AM
12:00 At private residence (no visitors)
08:00 At private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo (no morning visitors)
08:59 Depart from private residence
09:17 Arrive at office
09:40 Meet with Sankei Shimbun’s former Director of Seoul Branch Office Kato Tatsuya
10:00 End meeting with Mr. Kato
11:30 Meet with Director-General of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Amano Yukiya. MOFA’s Director-General of Disarmament, Non-Proliferation and Science Department Hikihara Takeshi also attends
11:50 End meeting with Mr. Amano

PM
12:05 Meet with Chief Representative of Komeito Yamaguchi Natsuo
01:02 End meeting with Mr. Yamaguchi
01:26 Meet with Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy Amari Akira, Vice-Minister for Cabinet Office Matsuyama Kenji, and Cabinet Office Director-Generals for Policies on Cohesive Society Maekawa Mamoru, Habuka Shigeki, and Tawa Hiroshi
01:50 End meeting with Mr. Amari, Mr. Matsuyama, Mr. Maekawa, Mr. Habuka, and Mr. Tawa
01:51 Meet with Minister in charge of TPP Amari Akira
02:16 End meeting with Mr. Amari
02:58 Meet with Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare Shiozaki Yasuhisa. Director-General of Mnistry of Health Labour and Welfare (MHLW)’s Pension Bureau Katori Teruyuki also attends
03:36 End meeting with Mr. Shiozaki
04:31 Meet with Director of NSC Yachi Shotaro, Director of Cabinet Intelligence Kitamura Shigeru, MOFA’s Director-General of Foreign Policy Bureau Hiramatsu Kenji, MOD’s Director-General of Bureau of Defense Policy Kuroe Tetsuro and Chief of Staff for Joint Staff Council Kawano Katsutoshi
05:03 End meeting with Mr. Yachi, Mr. Kitamura, Mr. Hiramatsu, Mr. Kuroe, and Mr. Kawano
05:04 Speak with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Aso Taro
05:17 Finish speaking with Mr. Aso
05:18 The fifth Thematic Meeting of the Industrial Competitiveness Council
05:32 Council meeting ends
06:09 Receive a courtesy call from Secretary-General of Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Angel Gurría
06:27 Courtesy call ends
06:41 Depart from office
06:43 Arrive at official residence

Thursday, April 16, 2015

AM
12:00 At official residence (no visitors)
08:00 At official residence (no morning visitors)
08:56 Depart from official residence
08:57 Arrive at office
09:05 Meet with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kato Katsunobu
09:40 End meeting with Mr. Kato

PM
12:54 Depart from office
12:55 Arrive at Diet
12:56 Enter Lower House Speaker’s Drawing Room
01:00 Leave room, enter Lower House Chamber
01:02 Lower House Plenary Session opens
02:58 Lower House Plenary Session adjourns
02:59 Leave Lower House Chamber
03:00 Depart from Diet
03:02 Arrive at Lower House 1st Diet Members’ Meeting Hall. Dental appointment at dentist’s office
03:42 Depart from Lower House 1st Diet Members’ Meeting Hall
03:44 Arrive at office
03:50 Speak with Cabinet Advisor Iijima Isao
03:59 Finish speaking with Mr. Iijima
04:00 Meet with MOFA’s Director-General of North American Affairs Bureau Tomita Koji and Director-General of Economic Affairs Bureau Saiki Naoko
04:28 End meeting with Mr. Tomita and Ms. Saiki
04:48 Speak with London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine professor Peter Piot. MOFA’s Director-General of African Affairs Department Maruyama Norio also attends
04:58 End meeting with Mr. Piot
05:07 Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy meeting
05:48 Council meeting ends
05:49 Meet with Special Advisor to the Prime Minister Isozaki Yosuke
06:07 End meeting with Mr. Isozaki
06:10 Depart from office
06:33 Arrive at private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo

Monday in Washington, November 3, 2014

OECD DATA HARVEST – AGRICULTURE POLICIES & GLOBAL MARKET OUTLOOK. 11/3, 9:30-Noon. Sponsors: OECD, Washington Center; Economic Research Service (ERS), USDA. Speakers: Ken Ash, Director, OECD Trade and Agriculture Directorate; Anne Effland, USDA Economic Research Service; Jonathan Brooks, Head of Agro-food Trade and Markets, OECD Trade and Agriculture Directorate; Nicholas Nelson, Director, FAO Liaison Office for North America; and Seth Meyer, Acting Chair, USDA World Agricultural Outlook Board.

KURDISTAN: FROM PAWN TO PLAYER. 11/3, 10:00-11:00am. Sponsor: SAIS Johns Hopkins. Speaker: Falah Mustafa Bakir, head of the Department of Foreign Relations for the Kurdistan Regional Government.

PEACEBUILDING IN SOUTHERN THAILAND SINCE THE MAY COUP. 11/3, 10:30am-Noon. Sponsor: Asia Foundation. Speaker: Hadee Hamidong, William P. Fuller Fellow in Conflict Resolution, The Asia Foundation; and Kim McQuay, Country Representative in Thailand, The Asia Foundation.

PARADOX OF U.S. PUBLIC DIPLOMACY: ITS RISE AND DEMISE. 11/3, Noon-1:30pm. Sponsor: GWU Elliott School. Speaker: Bruce Gregory, adjunct professor of public diplomacy in the School of Media and Public Affairs at GWU. Read Special Report here.

HIGHER EDUCATION IN VIETNAM. 11/3, 2:00-3:00pm, Washington, DC. Sponsors: Sumitro Chair for Southeast Asia Studies, CSIS; Vietnam Education Foundation. Speakers: Ms. Sandy Dang, Acting Executive Director, Vietnam Education Foundation; and Dr. Margaret Petrochenkov. Program Officer, Vietnam Education Foundation.

FROM HIZBULLAH TO THE ISLAMIC STATE. 11/3, 3:00-4:30pm. Sponsor: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP). Speakers: Lina Khatib, director of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut; Joseph Bahout, visiting scholar in the Middle East Program at CEIP; Frederic Wehrey, senior associate in the Middle East Program at CEIP.

GLOBAL VALUE CHAINS, MEGA-REGIONALS, AND PROSPECTS FOR MULTILATERAL TRADE COOPERATION. 11/3, 3:30-5:00pm. Sponsor: Peterson Institute for International Economics (IIE). Speakers: Anabel Gonzalez, senior director of the trade and competitiveness global practice at the World Bank; Patrick Low, vice president of research at the Fung Global Institute; Jeffrey Schott, senior fellow at IIE; and Gary Hufbauer, senior fellow at IIE. (webcast).

COMBATING THE SPREAD OF EBOLA: THE US AID EFFORT IN LIBERIA. 11/3, 6:00pm, Reception. Sponsors: Women’s Foreign Policy Group (WFPG); New York University Washington, DC. Speaker: Helene Cooper, Pentagon correspondent, The New York Times; Moderator: Elisabeth Bumiller, Deputy Washington Bureau Chief, The New York Times.

ISLAM IN EURASIA. 11/3-4. Sponsors: GWU Elliott School Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies and Central Asia Program, Henry Luce Foundation. Speakers: Pauline Jones Luong, professor of political science, University of Michigan.

Monday in Washington, October 27, 2014

EBOLA: U.S. DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN POLICY OPTIONS. 10/27, Noon-1:00pm. Sponsor: Heritage Foundation. Speakers: Robert Kadlec, managing director of RPK Consulting LLC; Tevi Troy, president of the American Health Policy Institute; Charlotte Florance, research associate for economic freedom in Africa and the Middle East at Heritage; and Steven Bucci, director of the Center for Foreign and National Security Policy at Heritage.

VICTORY UNDONE: THE DEFEAT OF AL-QAEDA IN IRAQ AND ITS RESURRECTION AS ISIS. 10/27, Noon-2:00pm. Sponsor: International Security Program, Eurasia Center. Speaker: Carter Andress, Iraq War expert, Author, Victory Undone: The Defeat of al-Qaeda in Iraq and Its Resurrection as ISIS.

BROADER IMPLICATIONS OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS CRACKDOWN IN AZERBAIJAN. 10/27, 12:30-2:00pm, Lunch. Sponsor: Freedom House and Open Society Foundations (OSF). Speakers: Gerald Knaus, founding chairman of the European Stability Initiative; Paige Alexander, assistant administrator in the Bureau for Europe and Eurasia at the U.S. Agency for International Development; David Kramer, president of Freedom House; and Jeff Goldstein, senior policy analyst for Eurasia at OSF.


U.S.-CIVIL MILITARY RELATIONS AFTER 9/11. 10/27, 1:30-2:30pm Fairfax, VA. Sponsor: Alexander Hamilton Society-George Mason University. Speaker: author, Mackubin Thomas Owens, recently retired as professor of national-security affairs at the Naval War College. He is the editor of Orbis and a contributing editor to the National Review Online.

SUFFER NO FOOLS. 10/27, 5:00-7:30pm. Sponsor: Heritage Foundation. Speakers: Walter Williams, professor of economics at George Mason University; and Stephen Moore, chief economist at Heritage.

THE LIFE OF AN AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: A CONVERSATION WITH JULIA GILLARD ON MY STORY. 10/27, 9:00-10:15am. Sponsor: Brookings Institution. Speaker: author, Julia Gillard, Distinguished Fellow, Global Economy and Development, Center for Universal Education; Moderator: E.J. Dionne, Jr., Senior Fellow, Governance Studies.

WHAT LIES AHEAD FOR THE GLOBAL ECONOMY: A BRICS PERSPECTIVE. 10/27, Noon-1:30pm, Lunch. Sponsor: Peterson Institute for International Economics. Speaker: Mohamed A. El-Erian, chief economic adviser at Allianz.

RUSSIA’S WAR, UKRAINE’S HISTORY AND THE WEST’S OPTIONS. 10/27, 3:00-4:30pm. Sponsor: Russia and Eurasia Program, CSIS. Speaker: Timothy Snyder, Bird White Housum Professor of History, Yale University; Moderator: Jeffrey Mankoff, Deputy Director and Fellow, Russia and Eurasia Program, CSIS.

It's the Economy

Remarks by the President on the Economy in Osawatomie, Kansas, 12/6/11

     I’m here in Kansas to reaffirm my deep conviction that we’re greater together than we are on our own. I believe that this country succeeds when everyone gets a fair shot, when everyone does their fair share, when everyone plays by the same rules. (Applause.) These aren’t Democratic values or Republican values. These aren’t 1 percent values or 99 percent values. They’re American values. And we have to reclaim them.
....
We simply cannot return to this brand of “you’re on your own” economics if we’re serious about rebuilding the middle class in this country. (Applause.) We know that it doesn’t result in a strong economy. It results in an economy that invests too little in its people and in its future. We know it doesn’t result in a prosperity that trickles down. It results in a prosperity that’s enjoyed by fewer and fewer of our citizens.
....
Inequality also distorts our democracy. It gives an outsized voice to the few who can afford high-priced lobbyists and unlimited campaign contributions, and it runs the risk of selling out our democracy to the highest bidder. (Applause.) It leaves everyone else rightly suspicious that the system in Washington is rigged against them, that our elected representatives aren’t looking out for the interests of most Americans.

But there’s an even more fundamental issue at stake. This kind of gaping inequality gives lie to the promise that’s at the very heart of America: that this is a place where you can make it if you try. We tell people -- we tell our kids -- that in this country, even if you’re born with nothing, work hard and you can get into the middle class. We tell them that your children will have a chance to do even better than you do. That’s why immigrants from around the world historically have flocked to our shores.

Asian Economic Monitor, Asian Development Bank, 12/6/11.

     Semi-annual again downgrades next year's growth forecasts for emerging East Asia, warning of the impact of the European debt crisis. It now expects 14 economies in the region to grow by 7.2% in 2012, instead of the 7.5% it estimated in September. The ADB has maintained its forecast for 2011 at 7.5%.

Growth in the PRC is likely to moderate even as domestic demand continues to rise, and is now forecast at 8.8% in 2012 after expanding 9.3% this year. In September, ADB had forecast growth of 9.1% in 2012.

The newly industrialized economies of Hong Kong, China; the Republic of Korea; Singapore; and Taipei, China, will see slower growth both this year and next year in large part because they are more dependent on international trade than their neighbors. This leaves them highly vulnerable to an economic contraction in Europe and the US.

ASEAN’s economies will also grow more slowly than previously expected. Thailand, hit particularly hard by the recent floods, should recover from supply disruptions next year. ADB now sees Thailand’s economy growing a smaller 2.0% this year, but is maintaining its 4.5% growth forecast for 2012.

Japan’s economy is forecast to bounce back from the effects of the recent natural disasters as supply chains are rebuilt, but the strong yen will likely hurt exports while domestic demand is likely to remain weak. As such, ADB continues to forecast a contraction of 0.5% this year followed by a 2.5% expansion next year. 

Report examines if Asia can weather another economic downturn in the West. The prognosis is guarded.


Divided We Stand: Why Inequality Keeps Rising, OECD, 12/5/11.
     The gap between rich and poor has grown in most of the world's major economies, and now stands at its highest level in 30 years. The gap between the income of the richest 10 percent and the poorest 10 percent has risen in nearly all OECD member countries. The biggest gap is in Chile and Mexico, where the richest make 25 times more than the poorest. The gap is 14-to-1 in the United States, Turkey and Israel; 10-to-1 in Japan, South Korea and Britain; and 6-to-1 in Germany, Denmark and Sweden. 

OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria said the study shows that "the social contract is starting to unravel in many countries." Gurria said the study shows that the benefits of economic growth in countries do not automatically trickle down to the poor. The OECD attributed the rising income gaps to several factors, including changes in tax and benefits policies and differences in education and training.