Will US Republicans Defeat the TPP?

By Richard Katz is editor of The Oriental Economist Report and and APP member. This commentary is adapted from Foreign Affairs, October 7, 2015.

In a surprising development, it is congressional Republicans and a few of their business allies that now pose the biggest threat to the TPP. When an agreement was finally announced on October 5, neither a single Republican leader in Congress, nor any broad business federation could be found to support it. Republican support for the TPP is indispensable since most congressional Democrats oppose it and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has just come out against it.

Optimists argue that much of the immediate GOP criticism of the deal is temporary, the result of a misperception by some business sectors, such as pharmaceuticals, that the Obama administration sold them out in order to get a quick deal. But the reality, as one Washington-based business source told me, is that, “Reaching agreement was a case of now or never.” Some of the deal’s discontents, meanwhile, have convinced themselves that they can force a renegotiation, but that is a fantasy. “This was absolutely the best deal the United States could get, given the bargaining situation,” said one business source.

Many people, including myself, have grave reservations about the TPP and, back in May, I had proposed taking more time to fix the flaws (https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/asia/2015-05-12/trade-trials). However, that option is now gone. It will either be this TPP or none at all. The question for legislators in all countries is whether the pact’s benefits outweigh its flaws, whether this TPP makes things better or worse, and finally, whether rejection would lead to a better pact down the road, or to no pact at all.

Looming large over the debate in Congress is the immense veto power of assorted well-connected, well-financed special interests. Too many of those who claim to support “free trade” no longer mean a two-way street in which the United States helps promote its own prosperity by promoting that of its partners. Rather, they seek a system in which others open their markets to favored American business sectors, but the United States does not sufficiently reciprocate.

Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), the chair of the Senate Finance Committee, lamented that, “I am afraid this deal appears to fall woefully short.” Hatch is upset because the U.S. pharmaceutical industry did not win its demand for adherence to the U.S. standard of 12 years of data exclusivity (the protection of clinical test data) for biologics Data exclusivity goes far beyond normal patents. Instead, Froman was compelled to compromise. Hatch has warned for months that he might be willing to let the entire deal fail over this one issue. Even more disappointing to the pro-TPP crowd was what one Washington trade expert called “the surprising neutrality” of Representative Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), chair of the Ways and Means Committee and point man for the TPP in the House: “I am reserving judgment.” Perhaps Ryan, regarded as an ardent free-trader, did not want to get too far ahead of his GOP colleagues. But it is worth noting that he hails from the dairy state of Wisconsin… A couple weeks ago, the dairy lobby sent a letter to Congress in which they noted “grave concerns” about a deal that would give New Zealand more access to the U.S. market, but would not adequately open Canada’s market to the United States. Then there’s tobacco. Froman agreed that tobacco products would be exempted from a trade dispute-resolution mechanism, called ISDS. The poster child for abuse of this process is a series of suits by Philipp Morris and R.J. Reynolds against several countries that required plain packaging on cigarettes. For some countries, removing tobacco from ISDS protection was a vital public health issue. However, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who hails from the tobacco state of Kentucky, has suggested several times that exempting tobacco could be a deal-killer for him.

Given the divisions among the business community, not a single one of the leading broad-based business federations could come up a positive statement of support for the TPP. Knowledgeable observers expect that these federations will eventually energetically lobby for the TPP.

What is most disconcerting is the one-way street attitude of too many of those who call themselves “free traders.” Some in business and Congress—on both sides of the aisle—contend that the United States is already so open that there is little left to do. This causes resentment among the other TPP countries, who point to a host of issues, some of which the US did not even allow to be discussed in the main TPP talks, “Buy America” provisions of many state procurement laws (a $1.4 trillion market); the protectionist “yarn forward” rule in textiles; the refusal to bring down high import barriers on sugar and dairy; and tariffs on Japanese trucks (25 percent), cars (2.5 percent), and parts (mostly 6-10 percent) that will not be lifted under the TPP for 30, 25, and up to 15 years, respectively.

U.S. leadership rests on others’ perception of it as a benign hegemon. By undermining such perceptions, one-way street notions of free trade pose a far greater threat to national security than any free trade agreement that China could create.

Prime Minister of Japan’s Schedule March 30-April 5, 2015

Monday, March 30, 2015

AM
12:55 Finish attendance of state funeral for former Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew, arrive at Haneda Airport on private government aircraft
01:05 Depart from airport
01:27 Arrive at private residence
01:45 At private residence (no visitors)
08:00 At private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo (no morning visitors)
08:46 Depart from private residence
09:01 Arrive at office
09:05 Speak with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretaries Kato Katsunobu and Seko Hiroshige
09:19 Finish speaking with Mr. Kato and Mr. Seko
09:23 Depart from office
09:25 Arrive at Diet
09:26 Enter Lower House Committee Room No. 1
09:30 Lower House Budget Committee opens

PM
12:08 Lower House Budget Committee adjourns
12:09 Leave room
12:12 Enter State Ministers’ Room
12:23 Leave room
12:24 Enter Lower House Speaker’s Drawing Room
12:30 Leave room, enter Lower House Chamber
12:32 Lower House Plenary Session opens
12:43 Lower House Plenary Session adjourns. Leave Lower House Chamber
12:44 Enter State Ministers’ Room
12:54 Leave room
12:56 Enter Upper House Committee Room No. 1
01:00 Upper House Budget Committee opens
04:36 Upper House Budget Committee adjourns. Leave room
04:38 Depart from Diet
04:48 Arrive at Imperial Palace. Register return to Japan
04:53 Depart from Imperial Palace
05:00 Arrive at Diet
05:05 Enter Upper House President’s Reception Room
05:08 Leave room, enter Upper House Chamber
05:11 Upper House Plenary Session opens
05:15 Leave seat during Upper House Plenary Session proceedings
05:17 Enter LDP President’s Office
05:26 LDP Officers Meeting
05:41 Meeting ends
05:42 Speak with LDP Vice-President Komura Masahiko, LDP Secretary-General Tanigaki Sadakazu, and Chairman of LDP General Council Nikai Toshihiro
05:52 Finish speaking with Mr. Komura, Mr. Tanigaki, and Mr. Nikai
05:53 Leave LDP President’s Office
05:54 Depart from Diet
05:55 Arrive at office
06:10 Receive a courtesy call from Defense Minister of the Republic of India Manohar Parrikar
06:25 End meeting with Defence Minister Parrikar
06:26 Meet with incoming Commander of JGSDF Northern Army Okabe Toshiya and outgoing Commander of JGSDF Northern Army Tanabe Kishiro
06:32 End meeting with LIT Okabe and LIT Tanabe
06:33 Depart from office
06:34 Arrive at official residence

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

AM
12:00 At official residence (no visitors)
08:00 At official residence (no morning visitors)
08:11 Depart from official residence
08:12 Arrive at office
08:18 Cabinet Meeting begins
08:40 Cabinet Meeting ends
08:41 Meet with Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) Shimomura Hakubun and Director-General of MEXT’s Elementary and Secondary Education Bureau Komatsu Shinjiro
09:21 End meeting with Mr. Shimohira and Mr. Komatsu
09:22 Speak with Special Advisor to the Prime Minister Kimura Taro
09:29 Finish speaking with Mr. Kimura
09:30 Meet with Minister in charge of Administrative Reform Arimura Haruko and Secretary-General of Headquarters for Promotion of Administrative Reform Takimoto Sumio
09:59 End meeting with Ms. Arimura and Mr. Takimoto
10:00 Meet with Chairman of LDP Headquarters for Regional Diplomatic and Economic Partnership Eto Seishiro and Director of LDP Foreign Affairs Division Akiba Kenya
10:21 End meeting with Mr. Eto and Mr. Akiba
10:22 Meet with Chairman of LDP General Council Nikai Toshihiro
10:40 End meeting with Mr. Nikai
11:07 Director of Cabinet Intelligence Kitamura Shigeru enters
11:28 Director of National Security Council (NSC) Yachi Shotaro and Ministry of Defense (MOD)’s Director of Defense Intelligence Headquarters Miyagawa Tadashi enter
11:41 Mr. Yachi and Mr. Miyagawa leave
11:43 Mr. Kitamura leaves

PM
12:31 View cherry blossoms with secretaries in Kantei south garden
12:41 Finish viewing cherry blossoms
01:30 Meet with LDP Vice-President Komura Masahiko
02:07 End meeting with Mr. Komura
02:08 Meet with Administrative Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Nagamine Yasumasa, Ministry of Finance (MOF)’s Vice-Minister for International Affairs Yamasaki Tatsuo and Director-General of International Bureau Asakawa Masatsugu
02:35 End meeting with Mr. Nagamine, Mr. Yamasaki, and Mr. Asakawa
02:45 Meet with Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Saiki Akitaka
03:08 End meeting with Mr. Saiki
03:09 Speak with incoming Administrative Vice Minister of Reconstruction Agency Okamoto Masakatsu and outgoing Administrative Vice Minister of Reconstruction Agency Harada Yasuo
03:13 Finish speaking with Mr. Okamoto and Mr. Harada
03:14 Meet with Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA)’s Mr. Saiki, Director-General of North American Affairs Bureau Tomita Koji, and Director-General of Middle Eastern and African Affairs Bureau Uemura Tsukasa
03:59 End meeting with Mr. Saiki, Mr. Tomita, and Mr. Uemura
05:06 Depart from office
05:13 Arrive at Ark Mori Building in Akasaka, Tokyo. Attend opening ceremony of the Tokyo One-Stop Business Establishment Center, deliver address
05:37 Depart from Ark Mori Building
05:41 Arrive at office
06:03 Hold Administrative Reform Promotion Council meeting
06:08 Council meeting ends
06:25 Receive a courtesy call from members of the Project Advisory Board of the Asia Center of the Japan Foundation
06:41 Courtesy call ends
06:44 Depart from office
06:51 Arrive at Imperial Hotel in Uchisaiwai-cho, Tokyo. Attend inauguration reception of the President of Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly, deliver address
07:04 Depart from hotel
07:22 Arrive at Hatoyama Hall in Otowa, Tokyo. Attend a cherry blossom viewing party of LDP policy group “Kisaragi-kai”
08:17 Depart from Hatoyama Hall
08:41 Arrive at private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

AM
12:00 At private residence (no visitors)
07:27 Depart from official residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo
07:40 Arrive at office
07:46 Meet with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seko Hiroshige
08:50 End meeting with Mr. Seko
08:53 Depart from office
08:54 Arrive at Diet
08:56 Enter Upper House Committee Room No. 1
08:57 Speak with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Aso Taro
09:00 Finish speaking with Mr. Aso
09:01 Upper House Budget Committee opens
11:52 Upper House Budget Committee recess, leave room
11:54 Depart from Diet
11:56 Arrive at office

PM
12:54 Depart from office
12:55 Arrive at Diet
12:57 Enter Upper House Committee Room No. 1
01:00 Upper House Budget Committee reopens
05:15 Upper House Budget Committee adjourns
05:16 Leave room
05:18 Depart from Diet
05:20 Arrive at Central Government Building No. 8. Attend the inauguration ceremony for the Children and Child-Rearing Headquarters and delivered an address to the Headquarters staff
05:29 Depart from Central Government Building No. 8
05:30 Arrive at office
05:32 Meet with Minister in charge of Economic Revitalization Amari Akira, Cabinet Office’s Vice-Minister Matsuyama Kenji and Director-General for Policies on Cohesive Society Maekawa Mamoru
05:52 End meeting with Mr. Amari, Mr. Matsuyama, and Mr. Maekawa
06:46 Depart from office
07:03 Arrive at Myochi Hall in Yoyogi, Tokyo. Attend wake for the late chairman of Myochikai Kyodan (a Japanese Buddhist lay organization) Miyamoto Takeyasu
07:07 Depart from Myouchi Hall
07:16 Arrive at pizza shop En Boca Tokyo in Motoyoyogi-cho, Tokyo. Dinner meeting with friends
09:54 Depart from pizza shop
10:00 Arrive at private residence

Thursday, April 2, 2015

AM
12:00 At private residence (no visitors)
08:00 At private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo (no morning visitors)
09:20 Depart from private residence
09:35 Arrive at office
09:53 Meet with Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA)’s Vice-Minister Saiki Akitaka and Director-General of North American Affairs Bureau Tomita Koji
11:10 End meeting with Mr. Saiki and Mr. Tomita
11:11 Meet with Director of National Security Council (NSC) Yachi Shotaro, Director-General of Secretariat of the International Peace Cooperation Headquarters Yamamoto Jota, MOFA’s Director-General of Foreign Policy Bureau Hiramatsu Kenji, and Ministry of Defense (MOD)’s Director-General of Bureau of Defense Policy Kuroe Tetsuro
11:45 End meeting with Mr. Yachi, Mr. Yamamoto, Mr. Hiramatsu, and Mr. Kuroe
11:46 Meet with U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK)

PM
12:06 End meeting with Sen. Sullivan
12:07 Speak with Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ohta Akihiro
12:15 Finish speaking with Mr. Ohta
12:16 Meet with LDP Secretary-General Tanigaki Sadakazu
12:58 End meeting with Mr. Tanigaki
01:30 Meet with Cabinet Advisor Munakata Norio
02:01 End meeting with Mr. Munakata
02:02 Meet with LDP Lower House member Kawai Katsuyuki
02:22 End meeting with Mr. Kawai
02:23 Meet with LDP Lower House member Takemoto Naokazu
02:39 End meeting with Mr. Takemoto
02:40 Meet with Mr. Yachi, Mr. Hiramatsu, and Mr. Kuroe
03:04 End meeting with Mr. Yachi, Mr. Hiramatsu, and Mr. Kuroe
03:05 Meet with LDP Lower House member Kawamura Takeo
03:34 End meeting with Mr. Kawamura
03:35 Speak with Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Shimomura Hakubun and Vice-Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Yamanaka Shinichi
03:48 Finish speaking with Mr. Shimomura and Mr. Yamanaka
03:57 Meet with Mr. Yachi, Mr. Hiramatsu, Mr. Kuroe, and MOD’s Chief of Staff for Joint Staff Council Kawano Katsutoshi
04:27 End meeting with Mr. Yachi, Mr. Hiramatsu, Mr. Kuroe, and Mr. Kawano
04:28 Meet with former Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications Shindo Yoshitaka
04:45 End meeting with Mr. Shindo
05:12 Attend the Government-Labor-Management Meeting for Realizing a Positive Cycle of the Economy
06:01 Meeting closes
06:11 Hold a meeting of the founders of the national movement to support children’s futures
06:23 Meeting ends
06:33 Attend a meeting of Advisory Panel on the History of the 20th Century and on Japan’s Role and the World Order in the 21st Century
07:08 Meeting ends
07:10 Depart from office
07:11 Arrive at official residence

Friday, April 3, 2015

AM
12:00 At official residence (no visitors)
08:00 At official residence (no morning visitors)
08:57 Depart from official residence
08:58 Arrive at office
08:59 Meet with Minister for Foreign Affairs Kishida Fumio and Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Saiki Akitaka
09:38 End meeting with Mr. Kishida and Mr. Saiki
09:46 Speak with Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare Shiozaki Yasuhisa and Administrative Vice-Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare Hara Katsunori
09:56 Finish speaking with Mr. Shiozaki and Mr. Hara
09:59 Cabinet Meeting begins
10:17 Cabinet Meeting ends
10:20 Hold the fifth meeting of the Council on Overcoming Population Decline and Revitalizing Local Economy in Japan
10:33 Meeting ends
10:34 Depart from office
10:48 Arrive at Yomiuri Shimbun Tokyo Headquarters Building in Otemachi, Tokyo. Attend a ceremony to commemorate the establishment of the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development, deliver address
11:03 Depart from Yomiuri Shimbun Tokyo Headquarters Building
11:16 Arrive at office
11:30 Speak with President of Japan Medical Association Yokokura Yoshitake
11:44 Finish speaking with Mr. Yokokura

PM
12:02 Meet with associate professor at University of Tokyo Ikeuchi Satoshi. Assistant Chief Cabinet Secretary Kanehara Nobukatsu also attends
01:10 End meeting with Professor Ikeuchi
02:01 Hold talks with families of abductees who were abducted by North Korea
02:51 Talks end
03:05 Receive a courtesy call from a delegation led by Democratic Leader of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
03:56 Courtesy call ends
04:00 Meet with Director of Cabinet Intelligence Kitamura Shigeru
04:28 End meeting with Mr. Kitamura
04:30 Meet with Director of NSC Yachi Shotaro, Secretary-General of Cabinet Office’s Headquarters for International Peace Cooperation Yamamoto Jota, MOFA’s Director-General of Foreign Policy Bureau Hiramatsu Kenji, and MOD’s Director-General of Bureau of Defense Policy Kuroe Tetsuro
05:05 End meeting with Mr. Yachi, Mr. Yamamoto, Mr. Hiramatsu, and Mr. Kuroe
07:07 Depart from office
07:13 Arrive at Hotel New Otani in Kioi-cho, Tokyo. Informal talk with AOKI Holdings Chairman Aoki Hironori, Nitori Holdings CEO Nitori Akio, and colleagues in banquet hall edo ROOM within hotel
08:45 Depart from hotel
09:00 Arrive at private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo

Monday in Washington, October 12, 2015

Christopher Columbus

Columbus Day, National Holiday in the United States

WILL THE TRANSATLANTIC TRADE AND INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIP LIVE UP TO ITS PROMISE? 10/12, 8:30am-5:30pm. Sponsor: Cato Institute. Speakers: Susan Aaronson, George Washington University; Axel Berger, German Development Institute; Marjorie Chorlins, U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Celeste Drake, AFL-CIO; Iana Dreyer, Borderlex; Fredrik Erixon, ECIPE; Michelle Egan, American University; John Gillingham, Harvard University Center for European Studies; Gary Hufbauer, Peterson Institute; Vinod Aggarwal, University of California; Joost Pauwelyn, Georgetown University Law Center; Harsha Singh, International Center for Trade and Sustainable Development; Susan Danger, American Chamber of Commerce to the European Union; Nancy McLernon, Organization for International Investment; Jim Kolbe, German Marshall Fund; Edward Alden, Council on Foreign Relations; Damien Levie, Delegation of the European Union to the United States; Fran Burwell, Atlantic Council; Phil Levy, The Chicago Council on Global Affairs; Peter Rashish, Transnational Strategy Group; Alberto Alemanno, HEC Paris & NYU Law; Per Altenberg, Swedish Board of Trade; Greg Shaffer, University of California; Laura Baughman, Trade Partnership; Gabriel Felbermayr, Ifo Institute; Gabriel Siles-Brugge, University of Manchester.

STATE MEDIA IN RUSSIA: WHAT'S PROPPING UP “PUTIN'S MAJORITY”. 10/12, 4:30-6:00pm. Sponsor: Elliott School, George Washington University. Speaker: Sergei Parkhomenko, Radio Journalist, Ekho Moskvy

Prime Minister of Japan’s Schedule March 23-29, 2015

Monday, March 23, 2015

AM
12:00 At private residence (no visitors)
08:00 At private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo (no morning visitors)
09:37 Depart from private residence
09:51 Arrive at office
09:52 Interview open to all media: When asked the response to “former Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Kuan-yew’s death”, Mr. Abe answers, “He is a great Asian leader who laid the foundation for the prosperity of contemporary Singapore. I’d like to express my sympathy with the people of Singapore.”
09:53 Interview ends
10:42 Meet with resident Ambassador to United States Sasae Kenichiro and Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Saiki Akitaka
11:07 End meeting with Mr. Sasae and Mr. Saiki
11:08 Meet with Vice-Minister of Cabinet Office Matsuyama Kenji
11:26 End meeting with Mr. Matsuyama
11:27 Meeting with Minister of State for Disaster Management Yamatani Eriko
11:48 End meeting with Ms. Yamatani
11:49 Conference with President of Bank of Japan Kuroda Haruhiko commences

PM
01:01 Conference with Mr. Kuroda ends
01:36 Receive a courtesy call from a Delegation of Members of the Japan-Korea and Korea-Japan Eminent Persons Group
02:03 Courtesy call ends
02:07 Meet with Minister for Foreign Affairs Kishida Fumio, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA)’s Administrative Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Sugiyama Shinsuke, and Director-General of Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau Ihara Junichi
02:38 End meeting with Mr. Kishida, Mr. Sugiyama, and Mr. Ihara
02:39 Meet with MOFA’s Mr. Saiki and Director-General of International Legal Affairs Bureau Akiba Takeo
02:56 End meeting with Mr. Saiki and Mr. Akiba
03:15 Speak with President of Tokyo Metro Co. Oku Yoshimitsu
03:26 Finish speaking with Mr. Oku
04:06 Receive the findings of the Ruling Coalition on the Development of Security Legislation from LDP Vice-President Komura Masahiko and colleagues
04:29 Finishing receiving the findings
04:52 Depart from office
04:54 Arrive at Diet
04:55 Enter LDP Secretary-General’s Conference Room
04:56 Endorse candidate for Sagamihara City (Kanagawa Prefecture) mayoral election. Commemorative photo session
04:57 Photo session ends
04:58 Leave room
04:59 Enter LDP President’s Office
05:01 LDP Officers Meeting
05:17 Meeting ends
05:18 Speak with Mr. Komura and Special Advisor to President of LDP Hagiuda Koichi
05:21 Finish speaking with Mr. Komura and Mr. Hagiuda
05:22 Leave room
05:23 Enter State Ministers’ Room
05:24 Speak with Chairman of LDP Election Strategy Committee Motegi Toshimitsu
05:31 Finish speaking with Mr. Motegi
05:32 Leave room
05:33 Depart from Diet
05:34 Arrive at office
05:42 Ministerial Council on Monthly Economic Report and Other Relative Issues meeting
05:56 Council meeting ends
06:00 Reception for President of the Republic of Indonesia Joko Widodo. Commemorative photo session 

06:01 Commemorative photo session ends
06:02 Ceremony by the guard of honor
06:07 Ceremony ends
06:09 Summit Conference with President Joko Widodo
06:53 Summit Conference ends
06:56 Signing Ceremony, Joint Press Release
07:11 Press release ends
07:12 Depart from office
07:13 Arrive at official residence. Dinner meeting hosted by Prime Minister Abe Shinzo and his wife
08:35 See off President Joko
08:36 Finish seeing off President Joko

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

AM
12:00 At official residence (no visitors)
08:00 At official residence (no morning visitors)
08:06 Depart from official residence
08:07 Arrive at office
08:12 Cabinet Meeting begins
08:33 Cabinet Meeting ends
09:26 Meet with Administrative Vice-Minister of Defense Nishi Masanori
09:59 End meeting with Mr. Nishi
10:35 Meet with Foreign Press Secretary Kawamura Yasuhisa
11:04 End meeting with Mr. Kawamura
11:05 Interview with British newspaper Financial Times
11:55 Interview ends

PM
01:29 Meet with Chairman of LDP Headquarters for Regional Diplomatic and Economic Partnership Eto Seishiro, Chairman of LDP Global Information Study Committee Harada Yoshiaki and colleagues
02:00 End meeting with Mr. Eto and Mr. Harada
02:04 Depart from office
02:14 Arrive at Embassy of Singapore in Roppongi, Tokyo
02:15 Register condolence call for the late Lee Kuan Yew, former Prime Minister of Singapore
02:16 Finish condolence call
02:17 Interview open to all media: when asked “what’s your feeling after registering condolence call?” Mr. Abe answers, “ I think (the late Prime minister Lee) is an outstanding Asian leader. His achievements will be remembered and I would like to offer my heartfelt condolences.”
02:18 Interview ends
02:23 Depart from Embassy of Singapore
02:31 Arrive at Diet
02:32 Enter Lower House Doctor’s Office. Receive a medical eye examination
02:34 Leave office
02:35 Depart from Diet
02:37 Arrive at office
02:40 Meet with Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Saiki Akitaka
03:10 End meeting with Mr. Saiki
03:20 Meet with LDP Lower House member Miyazaki Kensuke and others
03:40 End meeting with Mr. Miyazaki and others
03:58 Meet with Director of NSC Yachi Shotaro, MOFA’s Administrative Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Sugiyama Shinsuke and Vice-Minister of Finance for International Affairs Yamasaki Tatsuo
04:15 End meeting with Mr. Yachi, Mr. Sugiyama, and Mr. Yamasaki
04:31 Mr. Yachi, Director of Cabinet Intelligence Kitamura Shigeru, and Director of Cabinet Satellite Intelligence Center Shimohira Koji enter
04:41 Mr. Yachi and Mr. Shimohira both leave
04:55 Mr. Kitamura leaves
06:02 Reception for Prime Minister of New Zealand John Phillip Key. Commemorative photo session
06:03 Finish commemorative photo session
06:04 Attend a ceremony by the guard of honor
06:09 Ceremony ends
06:11 Japan-New Zealand Summit Meeting with Prime Minister Key
07:01 Summit Meeting ends
07:05 Joint Press Release
07:16 Press Release ends
07:17 Depart from office
07:18 Arrive at official residence. Dinner meeting hosted by Prime Minister Abe Shinzo
08:33 See off Prime Minister Key

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

AM
12:00 At official residence (no visitors)
08:00 At official residence (no morning visitors)
09:30 Depart from official residence
09:33 Arrive at LDP Party Headquarters
09:35 Film video message for nationwide local elections
09:51 Finish filming
09:53 Depart from LDP Party Headquarters
09:56 Arrive at office
09:57 Interview open to all media: when asked “regarding the crash of Germanwings Flight 9525, do you have any latest information about the Japanese citizens on the plane and how will the government respond?” Mr. Abe answers, “now we are trying to confirm the safety of the Japanese. I would like to offer my heartfelt condolences to people who died.”
09:58 Interview ends
11:08 Meet with Chairman of LDP General Council Nikai Toshihiro
11:29 End meeting with Mr. Nikai
11:30 Speak with the chairman of Parliamentary Association for Development of Kabuki Nakasone Hirofumi and others
11:42 Finish speaking with Mr. Nakasone and others
11:43 Meet with Kabuki actor Nakamura Ganjiro. Former President of the Upper House Ooji Chikage also attends
11:58 End meeting with Mr. Nakamura

PM
02:06 Meet with Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF)’s Vice-Minister Minagawa Yoshitsugu and Director General for Secretariatʼs Policy Matters Arakawa Takashi
02:34 End meeting with Mr. Minagawa and Mr. Arakawa
02:59 Meet with LDP Secretary-General Tanigaki Sadakazu and Secretary-General of New Komeito Inoue Yoshihisa
03:35 End meeting with Mr. Tanigaki and Mr. Inoue
03:36 Meet with State Minister for Foreign Affairs Nakayama Yasuhide and Director-General of MOFA’s Consular Affairs Bureau Miyoshi Mari
03:58 End meeting with Mr. Nakayama and Ms. Miyoshi
04:02 Meet with Mr. Tanigaki
04:29 End meeting with Mr. Tanigaki
04:35 Meet with President of Asian Development Bank Nakao Takehiko. Vice-Minister of Finance for International Affairs Yamasaki Tatsuo also attends
05:05 End meeting with Mr. Nakao
05:16 Meeting of Headquarters for Healthcare and Medical Strategy Promotion
05:52 Meeting ends
06:09 Receive a courtesy call from General Martin E. Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States of America. Ministry of Defense (MOD)’s Chief of Staff for Joint Staff Council Kawano Katsutoshi also attends
06:30 Courtesy call ends
06:31 Depart from office
06:39 Arrive at Palace Hotel Tokyo in Marunouchi, Tokyo
06:46 Attend the presentation ceremony of the Healthy Society Award, deliver address
06:54 Depart from hotel
07:03 Arrive at official residence


Thursday, March 26, 2015

AM
12:00 At official residence (no visitors)
08:00 At official residence (no morning visitors)
09:50 Depart from official residence
09:51 Arrive at office
10:24 Meet with Director of Cabinet Intelligence Kitamura Shigeru
10:51 End meeting with Mr. Kitamura
11:08 Meet with U.S. Columbia University professor Jeffrey Sachs. Director General of International Cooperation Bureau of the MOFA Ishikane Kimihiro also attends
11:38 End meeting with Mr. Sachs
11:39 Meet with President of Japan-Korea Parliamentarians’ Union Nukaga Fukushiro
11:55 End meeting with Mr. Nukaga

PM
12:56 Depart from office
12:57 Arrive at official residence. Lunch meeting with Director of LDP Youth Division Kihara Minoru and colleagues. Special Advisor to President of LDP Hagiuda Koichi also attends
01:36 Depart from official residence
01:37 Arrive at office
01:38 Speak with Bank of Japan Policy Board member Harada Yutaka
01:43 Finish speaking with Mr. Harada
02:30 Speak with Cabinet Office’s Director-General for Policies on Cohesive Society Hihara Hirofumi
02:35 Finish speaking with Mr. Hihara
03:35 Receive a request at the Prime Minister's Office from the Parliamentary League for the Creation of a New World-Renowned National Archives
03:50 Finish receiving the request
04:16 Interview with American newspaper Washington Post
05:10 Interview ends
05:11 Receive a courtesy call at the Prime Minister's Office from representatives of the Boy Scouts who received the Fuji Award
05:25 Courtesy call ends
05:52 National Security Council meeting. Chairwoman of National Public Safety Commission Yamatani Eriko also attends
06:23 Council meeting ends
06:24 Meet with Director of National Security Council Yachi Shotaro and Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Saiki Akitaka
06:53 End meeting with Mr. Yachi and Mr. Saiki
06:59 Depart from office
07:00 Arrive at official residence. Dinner meeting with Chief Representative of New Komeito Yamaguchi Natsuo, Deputy Chief Representative of New Komeito Kitagawa Kazuo, Chairman of New Komeito Diet Affairs Committee Oguchi Yoshinori, Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ohta Akihiro, and others. Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide also attends
08:22 Depart from official residence
08:39 Arrive at private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo

Friday, March 27, 2015

AM
12:00 At private residence (no visitors)
07:07 Depart from private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo
07:19 Arrive at office
07:24 Meet with Deputy Chef Cabinet Secretary Seko Hiroshige
07:48 End meeting with Mr. Seko
07:50 Cabinet Meeting begins
08:14 Cabinet Meeting ends
08:15 Meet with Mr. Seko
08:41 End meeting with Mr. Seko
08:53 Depart from office
08:54 Arrive at Diet
08:56 Enter Upper House Committee Room No. 1
08:58 Speak with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Aso Taro
09:00 Finish speaking with Mr. Aso
09:01 Upper House Budget Committee opens
11:53 Upper House Budget Committee recess
11:54 Leave Upper House Committee Room No. 1
11:56 Depart from Diet
11:57 Arrive at office

PM
12:04 Speak with Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Takaichi Sanae
12:10 Finish speaking with Ms. Takaichi
12:53 Depart from office
12:55 Arrive at Diet
12:56 Enter Upper House Committee Room No. 1
12:57 Speak with Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide
12:58 Finish speaking with Mr. Suga
01:00 Upper House Budget Committee reopens
05:14 Upper House Budget Committee adjourns, leave room
05:16 Depart from Diet
05:18 Arrive at office
05:19 Commemorative photo session with members of Iwakuni Corporation Association of Iwakuni City, Yamaguchi Prefecture. LDP Lower House member Kishi Nobuo also attends
05:22 Photo session ends
05:59 Reception for Prime Minister of the Portugal Republic Pedro Passos Coelho. Commemorative photo session
06:00 Commemorative photo session ends
06:01 Attend a ceremony by the guard of honor
06:07 Ceremony ends
06:09 Japan-Portugal Summit Meeting with Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho
07:05 Summit Meeting ends
08:00 Signing Ceremony, Joint Press Release
08:26 Ceremony and Press Release end
08:27 Depart from office
08:28 Arrive at official residence. Dinner meeting hosted by Prime Minister Abe Shinzo
08:55 See off Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho
08:56 Finish seeing off Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho

Monday in Washington, October 5, 2015

SINO-U.S. COLLOQUIUM (VIII): BEYOND THE CURRENT DISTRUST. 10/5, 8:30am-5:30pm. Sponsors: The Institute for Communitarian Policy Studies; The China Energy Fund; The Chinese People's Institute of Foreign Affairs; The Institute for Security and Conflict Studies; The Sigur Center for Asian Studies, George Washington University (GWU). Speakers Include : Fred Bergsten, Peterson Institute for Economics; Kurt Campbell, The Asia Society; Jin Canrong, Professor of International Relations, Renmin University; Amitai Etzioni, Professor, GWU; Patrick Ho, Deputy Chairman, China Energy Fund Committee; Xiaoye Ma, Director, Academy for World Watch; Michael Swaine, Senior Associate, Carnegie Endowment; Hugh White, Professor of Strategic Studies, Australian National University; Tuosheng Zhang, Director of the Center of Foreign Policy Studies at the China Foundation for International and Strategic Studies.

TOWARD A “REAGANOV” RUSSIA: ASSESSING TRENDS IN RUSSIAN NATIONAL SECURITY POLICY AFTER PUTIN. 10/5, 10:00-11:30am. Sponsor: Brookings Institution. Speakers: Clifford G. Gaddy, Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy, Center on the United State and Europe; Michael E. O'Hanlon, Co-Director, Center for 21st Century Security Intelligence; Steven Pifer, Director, Arms Control and Non-Proliferation Initiative.

RUSSIA'S WAR AGAINST TERROR: THE NORTH CAUCASUS AND BEYOND. 10/5, 11:30am-12:30pm. Sponsor: Kennan Institute, Wilson Center. Speaker: Elena Pokalova, Associate Professor of International Security Studies, National Defense University.

INNOVATION AND DEFENSE INDUSTRIAL BASE. 10/5, 11:30am-1:00pm. Sponsor: The Heritage Foundation. Speakers: John G. McGinn, Principal Deputy Director, Manufacturing and Industrial Base Policy, U.S. Department of Defense; Stephen Rodriguez, Venture Partner, Abundance Partners; Peter Lichtenbaum, Partner, Covington & Burling; Sam Zega, Director, Strategy & Development, Airbus Group.

UNITED STATES AND CHINA: TRENDS IN MILITARY COMPETITION. 10/5, Noon-1:00pm. Sponsor: RAND Corporation. Speaker: Eric Heginbotham, Senior Political Scientist specializing in East Asian Issues, RAND Corporation.

THE FUTURE OF DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION IN ASIA AND THE PACIFIC. 10/5, 12:30-1:45pm. Sponsor: SAIS, Johns Hopkins University. Speaker: Haoliang Xu, UN Assistant Secretary-General.

THE WAY FORWARD IN THE UNBALANCED PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN CHINA AND INDIA. 10/5, 12:30-2:00pm. Sponsor: SAIS, Johns Hopkins University. Speaker: Zhong Zhenming, Professor, Tongji University.

GROWTH AND GEOGRAPHY OF MARKETS IN NORTH KOREA: NEW EVIDENCE FROM SATELLITE IMAGERY. 10/5, 12:30-2:00pm. Sponsor: U.S.-Korea Institute, SAIS, Johns Hopkins University. Speaker: Benjamin Katzeff, Silberstein, Non-Resident Fellow, Pacific Forum, CSIS.

DIALOGUE ON TRADE POLICY 2015. 10/5, 1:00-2:30pm. Sponsor: Association of Government Relations Professionals. Speakers: Angela Ellard, Ways and Means Committee Chief Trade Counsel; Jason Kearns, Chief International Trade Counsel, House Ways and Means Committee; Jayme White, Chief Adviser for International Competitiveness and Innovation, Senate Finance Committee; Everett Eissenstat, Chief International Trade Counsel, Senate Finance Committee.

FROM WORDS TO ACTION: DELIVERING INCLUSIVE GROWTH. 10/5, 2:00-3:30pm. Sponsor: Brookings Institution. Speaker: Ernesto Talvi, Director, Brookings Global – CERES Economic and Social Policy in Latin America Initiative. 

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THE ROK-U.S. SUMMIT: A KOREAN PERSPECTIVE ON WHAT THE TWO PRESIDENTS SHOULD DISCUSS. 10/5, 2:00-4:00pm. Sponsor: Korea Economic Institute (KEI). Speakers: Chang-gi Kim, President & Publisher, Chosun Ilbo News Press; Tae-won Ha, Assistant Political Editor, Dong-A Ilbo; Mi-sook Lee, News Editor, World Desk, Mun Hwa Daily News; Chan-soon Nam, Editorial Writer & Political Reporter, Dong-A Ilbo; Kang-duk Lee, Washington Bureau Chief, KBS News. 

FILIPINO SUPREME COURT JUDGE ANTONIO T. CAPRIO. 10/5, 2:00-4:00pm, Washington, DC. Sponsor: Sumitro Chair for Southeast Asia Studies CSIS. Speaker: Antonio T. Carpio, Senior Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the Philippines. 


DOOMED TO SUCCEED: THE U.S.-ISRAEL RELATIONSHIP FROM TRUMAN TO OBAMA. 10/5, 3:00-4:40pm. Sponsor: Georgetown University. Speaker: Author Dennis Ross, Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy. 

BOOKMEN AND WAR: LIBRARIES, INTELLIGENCE AND CULTURAL POLICY IN WORLD WAR II. 10/5, 4:00-5:30pm. Sponsor: History and Public Policy Program, Wilson Center. Speaker: Kathy Peiss, Professor of American History, University of Pennsylvania. 

PERSPECTIVES ON U.S.-INDIA RELATIONS. 10/5, 5:00-6:30pm. Sponsors: Sigur Center, George Washington University; Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry. Speakers: Tanvi Madan, Director, India Project and Foreign Policy Fellow, Brookings; Rick Rossow, Senior Fellow and Wadhwani Chair in U.S.-India Policy Studies, CSIS; Dan Twining, Senior Fellow, Asia, German Marshall Fund; Baijayant Panda, Member of Parliament, BJD Party, India; Moderator: Jonah Blank, Senior Political Scientist, RAND.


KISSINGER: 1923-1968: THE IDEALIST. 10/5, 7:00pm. Sponsor: Politics and Prose Bookstore. Speaker: Author Niall Ferguson.

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Historical Trauma

University of Montana

SYMPOSIUM
NOVEMBER 4–5, 2015

UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA, MISSOULA

Co-organized by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies and the University of Montana’s African-American Studies Program, this interdisciplinary symposium explores current and emerging research on historical trauma in Holocaust studies, Native-American studies, African-American studies, and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality studies.

By bringing together scholars, teachers, students, and community members, the Mandel Center’s outreach symposia seek to enrich campus dialogue and forge connections with diverse audiences that will ensure the vitality of Holocaust studies in an increasingly interdisciplinary and multicultural academic landscape.

The symposium is a component of the University of Montana’s DiverseU, a campus-wide series of events focused on topics of diversity. Students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community members discuss, present, perform, and exhibit art throughout the program.

The symposium will be held in Room 332-3 of the University of Montana’s University Center. This program is free and open to the public. RSVP.

This symposium has been made possible by a generous grant to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum from the Joyce and Irving Goldman Family Foundation and by the University of Montana’s African-American Studies Program, College of Humanities and Sciences, Davidson Honors College, Department of Anthropology, Department of Communication Studies, Department of History, Mansfield Library, Native American Studies Department, President Royce Engstrom, University Center, and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program.

Highlighted in red are programs of interest to those who work on issues of Japanese war crimes.

SYMPOSIUM PROGRAM

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4

1:30 p.m. Welcome and Opening Remarks
Royce Engstrom, President, University of Montana
Robert M. Ehrenreich, Director of University Programs, Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

2 p.m. Reframing Knowledge Production
Moderator: Rosalyn LaPier (Blackfeet/Métis), Assistant Professor, Environmental Studies Program, University of Montana

Digging Through the Rubble: Romani Women’s Holocaust Testimony and What It Tells Us about History
Ethel Brooks, Associate Professor, Departments of Women's and Gender Studies and Sociology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

“Reflecting the World Increasingly Made Right”: From Response to Action in Public Libraries
Julie Edwards, Associate Professor, Mansfield Library, University of Montana

The Healing Power of Truth-Telling: Undoing the Many Wrongs and Harms of Colonialist American Historiography
George Price (Wampanoag), Lecturer, African-American Studies Program, History Department, and Native American Studies Department, University of Montana

3:30 p.m. Break

3:45 p.m. Keynote: The Inheritance of Trauma across the Disciplines: A View from Holocaust Studies
Sara R. Horowitz, Professor of Comparative Literature, York University and 2009 Mandel Center Fellow

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5

9 a.m. Children and Historical Trauma
Moderator: Tobin Miller Shearer, Associate Professor, History Department, and Director, African-American Studies Program, University of Montana

“War . . . ain’t Nuthin’ But Hell on Dis Earth”: Children in the Civil War South
Anya Jabour, Professor, History Department, University of Montana

In the Pipeline: Children and Families in the Displaced Persons Camp
Adam R. Seipp, Associate Professor of History, Texas A&M University

Early Education Experiences and Health Later in Life in Older American Indians
Steven P. Verney (Tsimshian), Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico

Psychological and Health Consequences of Historical Trauma in Native Communities
Gyda Swaney (Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation), Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Montana

10:30 a.m. Break

11 a.m. Justice and Historical Trauma
Moderator: Kathryn Shanley (Fort Peck Nakota), Professor, Native American Studies Department, and Special Assistant to the Provost for Native American and Indigenous Education, University of Montana

Victim’s Justice: Holocaust Legacies of Reparations
Kathy L. Powers, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science and Affiliated Faculty, Africana Studies Program and School of Law, University of New Mexico and 2014 Mandel Center Fellow

Victimized But Not Victims: Narratives of Homelessness in Rural Areas and Small Towns
Daisy Rooks, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Montana

Historical Trauma's Impact on American Indians in the Legal System
Maylinn Smith, Director, Margery Hunter Brown Indian Law Clinic, Alexander Blewett III School of Law, University of Montana

12:30 p.m. Break for Lunch

1:30 p.m. Gender, Sexuality, and Historical Trauma
Moderator: Christine Fiore, Professor and Chair, Department of Psychology, University of Montana

Afterlives of the Catastrophe: Women, Sex, Gender in the Wake of World War II
Neni Panourgiá, Visiting Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, New School for Social Research and 2011 Charles H. Revson Fellow for Archival Research

Applying the Concept of Historical Trauma to LGBT Individuals
Bryan Cochran, Associate Professor and Director of Clinical Training, Department of Psychology, University of Montana

Confronting Rape Culture: Analyzing the Historical Erasure of the Perpetrator
Elizabeth A. Hubble, Director, Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program, University of Montana

3 p.m. Break

3:30 p.m. Roundtable on the Pedagogy of Historical Trauma
Moderator: Krista Hegburg, Program Officer, Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

C. Richard King, Professor, Department of Critical Culture, Gender, and Race Studies, Washington State University

Gillian Glaes, Visiting Associate Professor, History Department and African-American Studies Program, University of Montana

Betsy Bach, Professor, Department of Communication Studies, University of Montana

Lowering higher education

Japan's Education Minister Hakubun Shimomura

Universities fending off attacks on the liberal arts

By Jeff Kingston director of Asian Studies, Temple University Japan and APP member

SPECIAL TO THE JAPAN TIMES OCT 3, 2015

As discussed last week, in June the education ministry sent a directive to all 86 national universities in Japan, apparently calling on them to abolish or reorganize their humanities and social sciences departments.

I use the word “apparently” because the wording of the letter is ambiguous. Kan Suzuki, special adviser to Japan’s education minister, recently explained in Diamond magazine that the ministry failed to consult various stakeholders and admitted the new policy was not well articulated, but insists that the ministry is not moving to abolish the liberal arts. Rather, he says, the government wants the national universities to concentrate on what they do best and develop survival strategies based on market forces, budget cuts and demographic trends. But given his job, he would say that.

Fellow Japan Times contributor Takamitsu Sawa, the president of Shiga University, raised the alarm in August, asserting that liberal arts programs are being targeted due to an anti-democratic conservative ideological agenda. This view is shared by prominent Japanese academic organizations that issued statements critical of the government’s directive. Since then there has been an international storm of criticism in numerous publications and Internet discussion groups decrying this assault on the humanities and social sciences and the potentially stark implications for Japanese democracy.

In the context of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s assertive ideological policy agenda, there are deep suspicions that the proposed reforms are aimed at eliminating precisely the departments that nurture critical thinking and liberal democratic values because those graduates are more likely to oppose conservative initiatives. Will this imperil Japanese higher education and democracy? Probably not very soon, as the new reforms are more likely to spur universities to reorganize and rebrand rather than retrench and eliminate. Down the road, the ongoing shift of power from the faculty to university presidents will make it easier for the latter to impose change from above as appointment of department heads, selection of new hires and discretionary budgetary allocations will facilitate more sweeping reforms.

The competition for students and budget that is causing some national universities to revamp liberal arts programs is not necessarily affecting such programs at the top national universities that attract many applicants and sufficient funding. Nonetheless, it is apparent that winds of change have been gaining momentum throughout higher education for quite some time due to dire demographic trends. Given the oversupply of Japan’s universities — comprising 86 national universities, 90 universities run by prefectures or municipalities and 606 private institutions — consolidation is inevitable.

The shrinking pool of 18-year-olds, from 2 million in 1990 to 1.2 million in 2010, is old news for all universities as they try to attract more applicants by offering appealing programs. Only half of Japan’s high school graduates enter universities (excluding junior colleges), well below the OECD average of 62 percent and far below Australia (90 percent) and South Korea (82 percent).

Many national universities face intensified pressure to reorganize programs that dovetail with government priorities in order to secure more financial support. In the first decade of the 21st century the education ministry’s general budget support for public universities declined by nearly one-third, while an increasing proportion of such allocations are based on competitive assessments. What this means is that the ministry’s designated Global 30 universities will do fine, but smaller national ones outside major urban areas are facing tough times. Budgets are tight as in 2014 the OECD found that Japan’s public expenditures on higher education amounted to 0.5 percent of GDP, the lowest in the OECD, and less than half the average of 1.1 percent among member nations.

The QS World University Rankings for 2015/16 places five Japanese universities in the top 100: Kyoto University (38), University of Tokyo (39), Tokyo Institute of Technology (56), Osaka University (58) and Tohoku University (74). This mediocre showing — with tiny Singapore boasting two universities in the top 15, China and Hong Kong each with four in the top 100 and South Korea with three — has been a long-standing sore point, triggering national hand-wringing and an action plan. The prime minister has targeted getting 10 Japanese universities into the world’s top 100 by 2025, and hopes to do so by promoting natural sciences at the expense of liberal arts, even though most top universities maintain robust programs in both areas.

Requesting anonymity, a national university professor currently in an administrative role says he thinks the reforms won’t have much immediate impact, largely due to pushback from faculty and students. He attributes the attack on liberal arts to “idiots” in the LDP who want to stifle democracy and who “dislike the social sciences and humanities for ideological reasons.”

“I do not know why they did this in such a clumsy way to make it sound like a bunch of philistines attacking the social sciences and humanities,” he said. “Talk about bad PR.”

Bruce Stronach, dean of Temple University and former president of Yokohama City University, thinks that the controversial directive might serve a useful purpose, pointing out that many universities are in dire need of sweeping reforms to improve education and better prepare students for the demands of the 21st century.

“I think it is too simple to say that they are trying to kill the humanities and arts,” he says, “as there is a tremendous amount of evidence to demonstrate that they are trying to instill what is essentially an international liberal-arts-based educational philosophy and pedagogy in Japanese universities.”

Philip Seaton, a professor of history at Hokkaido University, is also unconvinced by caricatures of the reforms as a barbaric assault on the humanities and academic freedom, pointing out that some universities are responding by establishing new faculties and programs that meet ministry criteria, serve students and seek to boost student enrolments and revenues.

“There is a big difference between universities at which the humanities and social sciences play a key role in other strategic goals, and universities at which they are relatively isolated. For example, when they are central to an in-bound degree program or international student exchange program (which contributes to internationalization and/or rankings strategies) they are not in danger of being cut. But if the departments are providing education mostly to Japanese students and enrollment is declining, then pressures to reorganize are somewhat inevitable.”

“We have to raise our voices and let them know that the current pressure on higher education, particularly humanities and social sciences, is irrational and wrong,” says Sawako Shirahase, a professor of sociology at the University of Tokyo.

“The humanities and natural sciences are interdependent, not mutually exclusive,” says Christopher Simons, a literature professor at Tokyo’s International Christian University. “Humanities education has a bright future in Japan, but only if authorities have the courage to throw away old stereotypes and binary thinking.”

The international reputation of Japanese higher education is dismal, mirroring domestic perceptions that university is a four-year romp through “leisure land.” Such disparaging assessments are the kindling of reformist impulses.

Bottom line, can these reforms improve the poor level of education that currently prevails at too many Japanese universities? Optimism is unjustified.

The Japan Conference

Growing influence of Japan Conference reflects resentment at Tokyo’s postwar settlement with Washington

BY DAVID MCNEILL, writes for The Independent, The Economist and other publications. He is co-author of Strong in the Rain, a collection of survivors’ stories from Japan’s 2011 Tohoku disaster and is an APP member.

SPECIAL TO THE JAPAN TIMES, AUG 15, 2015

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in April delivered a speech to the U.S. Congress — the first by a Japanese leader — that lauded deepening trade ties and the military alliance with the United States.

The speech, carefully tuned for his U.S. audience, cast Abe as a defender of strong democratic principles, a leader with “deep repentance” in his heart for the “lost dreams of young Americans” who died fighting Japan in World War II.

Conspicuously missing, writes veteran Japan watcher Gavan McCormack, was any mention of the core Abe values that Congress could hardly be expected to share: “take back Japan,” “cast off the postwar regime” and revise the U.S.-imposed Constitution; teach “correct” history to make the country’s youth proud and “revere the spirits of Japan’s war dead,” including those convicted by the Allies as war criminals.

Such views are deeply controversial outside Japan but, 70 years after the end of the war, they appear to hold sway among a remarkably large number of the nation’s political class. About a third of the Diet and well over half of Abe’s Cabinet support them. All are members of the parliamentary league of Japan Conference (Nippon Kaigi), arguably the country’s most powerful nationalist lobby group. Abe is its “special adviser.”

Japan Conference’s charter lists six key goals: respect the Imperial Family as the center of Japanese life; nurture patriotism; promote a new Constitution “based on our nation’s true characteristics”; protect the sovereignty and honor of the nation’s independence; nurture young people to grow up with pride and love for their nation; and establish a strong army and promote the nation’s status in the global community.

In practice, says Yoshifumi Tawara, who heads a small nonprofit organization called Children and Textbooks Japan Network 21 that monitors the group, this is a shopping list of revisionist causes: applaud Japan’s wartime campaign to “liberate” Asia from Western colonialism; rebuild the armed forces; instill patriotism among students brainwashed by “left-wing” teachers; and revere the Emperor as he was worshipped until the calamity of Japan’s defeat in World War II.

“(Japan Conference members) have trouble accepting the reality that Japan lost the war,” says Setsu Kobayashi, a leading constitutional scholar and former Japan Conference member.

Kobayashi says the group is run by people who want to bring back much of Japan’s pre-war Meiji Constitution, before it was scrapped during the American-led Occupation between 1945 and 1952. Some are descendants of the people who started the war, he says.

Japan Conference’s supporters say the liberal Constitution has emasculated Japan. Many despise the “victor’s justice” meted out by the Americans, and the pacifist clause that neutered the country’s armed forces. In Abe, they have a prime minister who is considered one of their own, says Tomomi Yamaguchi, an anthropologist at Montana State University who studies the group.

Japan Conference has 242 local chapters (in addition to 47 prefectural headquarters), around 38,000 fee-paying members and a network that reaches deep into the government. Its members or affiliates include the former heads of large corporations, university presidents, Self-Defense Force chiefs of staffs, several party chiefs and at least one former chief justice, who chaired the group for several years.

Despite this impressive firepower, determining the group’s exact influence is difficult. The country’s media mostly shy away from covering it, says Tamotsu Sugano, a journalist and researcher.

Sugano believes Japan Conference’s most important achievement has been to unite right-wing movements under a like-minded program.

“Throughout 40 years of history,” Sugano says, “it has been sending almost the same message and focusing on the same priority: educating the young generation.”

Japan Conference’s signature drives have helped pass laws and legal changes in local councils and in the Diet, Yamaguchi says. It has helped banish much of what it calls “left-wing” teaching from schools and has brought back the tradition of singing the national anthem and standing for the Hinomaru flag. A key supporter is former Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara, who mandated punishment for teachers who refuse stand, face the flag and sing the anthem during school ceremonies.

A decade ago, Japan Conference collected 3.6 million signatures demanding revisions to the education law that would make it compulsory to teach children patriotism. Most of its current energies are aimed at getting 10 million to sign for a national referendum on revising the Constitution. It also wants to remove the pacifist clause, Article 9, and, instead, enshrine supposedly traditional family values in it. A draft of a new charter drawn up by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in 2013 reflects much of Japan Conference’s agenda.

The group gives nationalists in China and South Korea an excuse to claim that Japanese militarism is on the rise again. It wants Abe to continue to visit Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine, though such pilgrimages are seen in much of Asia as an endorsement of the country’s wartime leaders and their war aims. Abe triggered a major diplomatic row when he last went in 2013. Japan Conference’s growing political heft is partly credited with increasingly unabashed displays of allegiance to the shrine — a record 168 Diet members visited during the spring festival of 2013.

Unsurprisingly, this project of national self-love beautifies the ugly past. Japan Conference’s members reject what they call the country’s apology diplomacy and say the historical account of the 1937 Nanking Massacre, when Japanese troops sacked the Chinese city, is exaggerated or fabricated. Supporters have campaigned against anything that shows Japan’s wartime behavior in a bad light, bombarding exhibitions on war crimes, for example, with petitions and phone calls.

Tessa Morris Suzuki, a professor of modern Japanese history at Australian National University, calls Japan Conference a “really well-coordinated network.”

“I am just enormously concerned about the way Japan is going,” Suzuki says. “The Abe administration doesn’t think there was anything wrong with what Japan did in the war — they just think it was unfortunate that they lost.”

Much of the far-right agenda in Japan slips past American politicians, she says.

“They don’t really see how this will play out in East Asia because they need the U.S. bases (in Japan),” she says.

A closely allied group is the Shinto Association of Spiritual Leadership. In the late 19th century, the country’s oldest religion, Shinto, was reinvented as a tool of state, serving as an ideology that helped mobilize Japanese to fight wars in the Emperor’s name.

In 2007, lobbying by the association and Japan Conference helped to persuade the government to restore April 29 as a national holiday. It was previously observed before 1989 as wartime monarch Hirohito’s birthday.

Even opponents are impressed at how radical conservatives have quietly transformed the landscape of Japanese politics. Japan Conference members, however, are believed to be frustrated with the slow pace of change.

“We are simply trying to make Japan a normal country,” says Yoshiko Sakurai, a leading supporter. That means possessing a strong economy and military, as well as a proud citizenry, she says.

It remains to be seen how far this project will go. Despite the fact that nobody had shown deeper hostility to the postwar state forged by the Americans in 1945-52 than Abe, McCormack says, Washington has turned a blind eye to his revisionism. In return, Abe has pursued a dream long cherished by both sides: shrugging off the country’s pacifist shackles and deepening the military alliance with America.

According to Tawara, that could be a costly deal.

“I don’t think many people have grasped yet what is happening in Japan,” he says. “The situation is very dangerous.”

Japanese education ideology

Takahashi Shiro

Ideology is important to Prime Minister Abe Shinzo and his Administration. Nearly 90% of Abe's cabinet participate in highly ideological groups focused on recapturing the traditional Japanese spirit. These are not just politicians who want to govern Japan; they want to recast it.

Among the ideologies supported by PM Abe and his Education Minister Shimomura is Oyagaku founded by Shiro Takahashi [ 高橋 史朗] (b. 1950) in the late-1990s. Minister Shimomura is head of the secretariat of Oyagaku caucus in the Diet (Caucus to Promote Parental Education [親学推進議員連盟 Oya gaku suishin giin renmei], aka Home Education Support Caucus).

Takahashi, a professor at Meisei University and former deputy chairman of the revanchist Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform, promotes the concept of “Oya Gaku” (Parenting Studies). It asserts that parents need to be educated about correct childrearing. “Correct” in this context means emulating pre-war education.

Takahashi and his supporters believe that today’s parents have been infected by Nikkyouso (Teacher Union)-sponsored leftist ideology during their own school years and, as a result, many are unfit parents. Although not a scientist and his work is not peer-reviewed, he has pioneered his own “science” of autism and other developmental delays in children and claims that they can be reversed. He argues that developmental delay is a product either of a lack of effort by parents or of “Westernization” undermining Japan’s traditional values.

Takahashi is an advocate for a return to pre-war Japanese education practices. He believes that the United States has crippled Japan and infused it with a sense of masochism, since the Occupation. He expresses reservations about sex education and gender equality. He has called the movement away from gender discrimination a tool used by Japan's occupiers to disarm the country psychologically.

Takahashi is a member of Abe’s Gender Equality Council in the Cabinet Office’s Gender Equality Bureau. He is a also a frequent speaker at anti-Comfort Women rallies in concert with Nadashiko Action. He participated in their press conference in New York earlier this year. He is a board member of the Japan Institute for National Fundamentals and is a signatory of the Institute's September 26, 2015 advertorial, "Time to hit back at international aspersions 'over comfort women'" in several Japanese newspapers, including English-language ones.

Happy Science's Liberty Web interviewed Mr. Takahashi last fall in an article entitled "GHQ Completely Occupied the Japanese Spirit." He states that "GHQ nurtured Japanese who could be used for anti-Japanese propaganda, and would, even after they were gone, expand the “occupational policies” by the Japanese themselves, and set the direction so that they would self-destruct." The result he believes created a

chain of negative post-war education for over three generations, the Japanese have lost their pride and confidence, and lost their traditional morality and spirit. Tradition and ethics governing the raising of children has been destroyed, and the spirit of children and grandchildren has been devastated. 

He calls on the Japanese "to take back the foundation of the Japanese spirit."

Books by Mr. Takahashi include:

Traditional Japanese Education and Brain Science – Developmental Delay Can Be Cured
[ 脳科学から見た日本伝統的子育ってー発達障害の予防、改善できる Nou kagaku kara mita Nippon no dentouteki ko-sodate – Hattatsu shougai ha yobou, kaizen dekiru] (Moralogy Institute, 2012)

What USA Did During The Occupation So That Japan Would Never Be Able To Stand Up Again [日本が二度と立ち上がれないようにアメリカが占領期に行ったこと, Nippon ga nido to tachiagarenai youni Amerika ga senryo-ki ni okonatta koto] (Chichi Shuppan, Jan 2014)

LATER: Expert on Nanking for Foreign Ministry before UNESCO

N.B.: Takahashi is not a professor of history

Akahata on November 10 reported that Japan participated as an observer in the meetings of the UNESCO International Advisory Committee held on October 4-6 in Abu Dhabi in United Arab Emirates, and that Meisei University Professor Takahashi Shiro who criticizes textbook descriptions of the Nanjing Massacre as “masochistic” and “anti-Japanese” accompanied the government delegation there. You can find his name in the final report under "observers" as the only non-governmental member of the Japanese delegation.

Whereas we have not yet found a copy of this government paper, this article by Takahashi published by the Japan Institute for National Fundamentals, Speaking Out #332, October 20, 2015, Japan Should Urgently Organize Team to Deal with UNESCO Problem is reflective. He outlines the six proposals he made upon his return from the UNESCO conference to a joint meeting of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s Foreign Affairs Division, the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Division, the Headquarters for Regional Diplomatic and Economic Partnership, the Global Information Study Committee and the Special Committee for Recovery of Japan's Honor and Credibility. Five of these suggestions have been enacted.

The following article tries to point out the difficulties of involving Takahashi in government policy.

Japanese statement protesting UNESCO registration of Nanjing Massacre docs backfires
Mainichi Shimbun November 6, 2015

Documents the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and experts submitted to UNESCO in protest of its registration of China's "Documents of Nanjing Massacre" in its Memory of the World (MOW) program are backfiring, as it includes a statement that cites a scholar known for views denying that the massacre even took place.

The statement in question was compiled by Meisei University professor Shiro Takahashi, and was submitted in late September to the International Advisory Committee of the MOW Program alongside a statement from Kuni Sato of Japan's permanent delegation to UNESCO.

Based on his own analysis of a portion of the documents submitted by China to UNESCO for the Nanjing Massacre's registration in the MOW program that was released to the public, Takahashi wrote that it was impossible to determine the authenticity of the contents.

The statement not only noted the "publication of a book in which some 100 Japanese soldiers deny that such a 'massacre' took place," but also stated that the contents of a diary kept by a Chinese woman who was in Nanjing at the time was . mostly based on hearsay Furthermore, Takahashi cited Shudo Higashinakano - a professor at Asia University known for his views denying the Nanjing Massacre - and expressed doubts about the dates of the photos China submitted to UNESCO and their relation to the massacre. [APP Editor: Higashinakano was sued and lost a defamation suit by a Nanjing Massacre victim. The Supreme Court judge severely reprimanded him for telling falshoods.]

As for the lieutenant general from the Imperial Japanese Army who was sentenced to death in the Nanjing War Crimes Tribunal for masterminding the killing of 300,000 Chinese, Takahashi concluded, "His troops were ordered to change course when they were 500 meters inside the City Wall of Nanjing, so it was physically impossible to carry out a massacre. "

University of Shizuoka professor Hisaki Kenmochi, whose research focuses on comparisons between interpretations of history in Europe, Japan, China and South Korea, said he was concerned about the image Takahashi's statement may give to the world. "The statement gives the impression that Japan is siding with the school of thought that the Nanjing Massacre did not take place. This makes it possible for the world to view the situation as the same as the school of thought denying that the Holocaust ever took place. "

Hirotaka Watanabe, an international relations professor at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, also expressed his misgivings, saying, "There's a possibility that the statement made the world's impression of Japan worse, which is the opposite of what the Japanese government meant to do."

Takahashi, however, is unmoved by his critics. "People may criticize Higashinakano's scholarship, but I believe that what I cited from his work has been verified." Meanwhile, a source from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, "Takahashi maintains a good balance compared to other conservative scholars. "

The Japanese government officially recognizes that it can not deny that Japanese soldiers killed Chinese civilians and looted in Nanjing. In the 2010 Japan-China Joint History Research Committee meeting, scholars from the Japanese side set the maximum possible number of civilian victims at 200,000, with estimates of around 40,000 or 20,000. The Chinese scholars of the committee maintained that at least 300,000 were killed.

On Nov. 5, Japanese Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Hiroshi Hase made a speech at UNESCO's General Conference in Paris, and urged party states to engage in debate to improve the MOW registration process, including increased transparency.

Monday in Washington, September 28, 2015

MYANMAR IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC POLICY CONTEXT. 9/28-29, Lunch, Dinner. Sponsors: U.S.-Korea Institute at SAIS, East-West Center in Washington. Speakers: Derek Mitchell, Ambassador, Embassy of U.S., Yangon, Myanmar; Dr. Satu Limaye, Director, East-West Center in Washington; Michael Schiffer, Senior Adviser and Counselor, Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Neena Shenai, Trade Counsel, U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means; Jeremy Woodrum, Deputy Chief of Staff, Representative Joseph Crowley (NY-14); Paul Grove, Subcommittee Clerk, State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs, Senate Committee on Appropriations; Özge Güzelsu, Counsel, Senate Armed Services Committee; Dr. David Steinberg, Distinguished professor of Asian Studies emeritus,Georgetown University, Visiting Scholar, SAIS; Dr. Chaw Chaw Sein, Chair, International Relations Department, Yangon University; Dr. Zaw Oo, Senior Research Fellow and Director of Research, Centre for Economic and Social Development, Myanmar Development Resource Institute; Win Min, Senior Research Associate, Vahu Development Institute; William Wise, Associate Director, Southeast Asia Studies Program, SAIS; Keith Luse, Executive Director, National Committee on North Korea; Dr. Kurt Campbell, Chairman and CEO, Asia Group; Dr. Michael Green, Senior Vice President for Asia and Japan Chair, CSIS; Bradley Babson, Consultant; Kavi Chongkittavorn, Senior Fellow, Institute of Security and International Studies; Dr. K. Yhome, Fellow, Observer Research Foundation; Iwata Yasushi, Director for Asia and Pacific, Trade Policy Bureau, METI; Dr. Narushige Michishita, Japan Scholar, Asia Program, Wilson Center; Troy Stangarone, Senior Director, Congressional Affairs & Trade, KEI; Dr. Chul Chung, Vice President, Department of Asia-Pacific, Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP), Vice Chair, KOPEC; Dr. Suh Sang-Mok, Special Adviser to KOICA and Former Minister of Health and Welfare; Dr. Lim Wonhyuk, Professor, KDI School of Public Policy and Management; Dr. Carla Freeman, Executive Director, Foreign Policy Institute, SAIS; Yun Sun, Senior Associate, East Asia Program, Stimson; Dr. Xiong Jie, Central Party School, China.

MEETING THE CHALLENGES OF GLOBAL POLIO ERADICATION. 9/28, 8:30am-2:30pm, Lunch. Sponsor: Global Health Policy Center, CSIS. Speakers: J. Stephen Morrison, Senior Vice President and Director, Global Health Policy Center, CSIS; Dr. Thomas Frieden, Director, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Sir Liam Donaldson, Chairman, Independent Monitoring Board of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative; Steve Cochi, Senior Advisor, Global Immunization Division, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Andrew Etsano, Incident Manager, National Polio Emergency Operations Center, Nigeria Nata Menabde, Executive Director, WHO office at UN; Moderator: Nellie Bristol, Senior Fellow, Global Health Policy Center, CSIS; Michel Zaffran, Coordinator, Expanded Program on Immunization, WHO; Jon Andrus, Executive Vice President, Sabin Vaccine Institute; Stephen Sosler, Immunization Technical Advisor, Gavi, Vaccine Alliance; Moderator: Heidi Larson, Senior Lecturer, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine; Muhammad Pate, former Nigerian Minister of State for Health; Elias Durry, Senior Emergency Advisor on Polio for EMRO, WHO; Hamid Jafari, Director, Polio Operations and Research, WHO.

NEW FRONTIERS IN SCIENCE DIPLOMACY – OPPORTUNITIES FOR U.S.-E.U. COOPERATION. 9/28, 8:30am-6:00pm, Washington, DC. Sponsors: SAIS, Johns Hopkins University; BILAT USA 2.0. Speakers: TBA. 

HISTORY AND SECURITY: PRIME MINISTER ABE'S 70TH ANNIVERSARY STATEMENT AND JAPAN'S GLOBAL ROLE. 9/28, Noon-2:00pm, Lunch. Sponsor: Sasakawa Peace Foundation USA (SPFUSA). Speakers: Shinichi Kitaoka, President, International University of Japan; Kenneth Pyle, Henry M. Jackson Professor of History, Asian Studies Professor, University of Washington.

IRAQ, TURKEY, AND THE U.S.: STRENGTHENING THE ANTI-ISIS COALITION. 9/28, 12:30-2:00pm, Lunch. Sponsor: Middle East Institute. Speakers: Anthony Cordesman, Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy, Center for Strategic & International Studies; Bilgay Duman, Researcher, Middle East Strategic Research Center (ORSAM); Saban Kardas, Associate Professor of International Relations, TOBB University of Economics and Technology, Ankara; Hicran Kazanci, Coordinator and Turkey Representative, Iraqi Turkmen Front; Gonul Tol (Moderator) Founding Director, Middle East Institute Center for Turkish Studies.

KOREA AND THE TPP: THE INEVITABLE PARTNERSHIP. 9/28, 12:15-1:30pm. Sponsor: Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE). Speakers: Jeffrey J. Schott, Peterson Institute for International Economics; Il Houng Lee, Korea Institute for International Economic Policy.

CHALLENGES AND VOICES FOR ASIA’S FUTURE. 9/28, 2:15-5:00pm. Sponsor: Asia Foundation. Speakers: 2015 class of Asia Foundation Development Fellows from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, South Korea, and Thailand.

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HIDDEN PEOPLE OF NORTH KOREA: NEW ECONOMY, OLD POLITICS. 9/28, 3:00-4:30pm. Sponsor: Center for East Asia Policy Studies, Brookings. Speaker: Kongdan Oh, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Brookings, Co-author, The Hidden People of North Korea: Everyday Life in the Hermit Kingdom; Moderator: Katharine H.S. Moon, SK-Korea Foundation Chair, Korea Studies, Senior Fellow, Brookings.

HARD POWER: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR A STRONGER U.S. MILITARY. 9/28, 3:30-5:00pm. Sponsor: The Pew Charitable Trusts. Speakers: John Conger, Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations and Environment; Dennis V. McGinn, Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Energy, Installations and Environment; Miranda A.A. Ballentine, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Installations, Environment and Energy; Richard G. Kidd IV, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Energy and Sustainability; John Warner, Senior Adviser to the Pew Project on National Security, Energy and Climate.

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BOOK TALK: THE NEW TSAR. 9/28, 4:00-5:00pm. Sponsor: Kennan Institute, Wilson Center. Speaker: author, Steven Lee Myers, Public Policy Scholar. 

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CHINA-KOREA COOPERATION ON GLOBAL GOVERNANCE: PRIORITIES FOR THE G20 CHINA SUMMIT IN 2016. 9/28, 4:00-5:30pm. Sponsor: Asan Institute for Policy Studies. Speakers: Mo Jongryn, Senior Research Fellow, Center for Global Governance, Asan Institute for Policy Studies Vice President for International Affairs, Yonsei University; Yukon Huang, Senior Associate, Asia Program, Carnegie; Gilbert Rozman, Editor-in-Chief, The Asan Forum; Moderator: Eileen Block, Assistant Director, Washington, D.C. Office, Asan Institute for Policy Studies.

BOOK TALK: 1944: FDR AND THE YEAR THAT CHANGED HISTORY. 9/28, 7:00pm. Sponsor: Politics and Prose Bookstore. Speaker: Jay Winik, Author. 

MONDAY IN NEW YORK
Non-DC Events: With the Japanese government's Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) sponsorship of the daily Foreign Policy Situation Report, more Washingtonians are becoming aware of this Japanese governmental information gathering and dissemination organization.

INVEST JAPAN SEMINAR 2015 IN NEW YORK. 9/28, 9:00-11:00am, Lunch, New York. Sponsor: Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO). Speakers: Toshiyuki Yokota, President, JETRO New York; Jamie Dimon, Chariman, President & CEO of JP Morgan Chase & Co.; Eikei Suzuki, Governor of Mie Prefecture; Douglas Beck, Vice President of Sales for North America, Japan, and Northeast Asia, Apple Inc.; Fumiko Hayashi, Mayor of Yokohama City; Eran Westman, CEO of Vidyo, Inc.

This October, the UN will focus on a new development agenda and a report on the 15-year evaluation of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security—the first resolution to link women’s experiences of conflict to the international peace and security agenda, by lead author Radhika Coomaraswamy.

CENTRAL OR SIDELINED? EXAMINING HOW GIRLS FARED IN THE 2030 AGENDA. 9/28, 10:00-11:30am, New York. Sponsor: International Center for Research on Women (ICRW). Speakers: Ashley Judd, Actor, Activist and Author; Kate Gilmore, Deputy Executive Director, UNFPA; Cathy Russell, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large, Global Women's Issues; Ravi Verna, Executive Director, ICRW Asia Regional Office.