2026 February 6 (Fri) 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm | (In-Person) | Belfer Case Study Room (S020), Japan Friends of Harvard Concourse, CGIS South Building, 1730 Cambridge St.

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

Speaker: KAORU IOKIBE, Professor, Graduate Schools for Law and Politics, The University of Tokyo

Speaker: MASAYA INOUE, Professor, Faculty of Law, Department of Political Science, Keio University

Speaker: AYAKO KUSUNOKI, Professor, International Research Center for Japanese Studies

Speaker: RYOTA MURAI, Professor, Faculty of Law, Department of Political Science, Komazawa University

Discussant: ANDREW D. GORDON, Lee and Juliet Folger Fund Professor of History, Harvard University

Discussant: CHRISTINA L. DAVIS, Edwin O. Reischauer Professor of Japanese Politics, Department of Government; Director, Program on US-Japan Relations, Harvard University

Moderator: SUSAN J. PHARR, Edwin O. Reischauer Research Professor of Japanese Politics; Senior Adviser, Program on US-Japan Relations, Harvard University

Click HERE for Event Details and Zoom Registration

Speakers:

"The Security of Japan, an Island State in the ‘Far East’: Past and Present”
Kaoru Iokibe
Professor, Graduate Schools for Law and Politics, The University of Tokyo

“Launching Japan’s Postwar 'Trading State': Bureaucratic Conflict between Diplomacy and Economic Agencies, 1945–1956”
Masaya Inoue
Professor, Faculty of Law, Department of Political Science, Keio University

“The Dilemma of Dependence and Independence: The Linkage between Japan’s Economy and Security in the 1950s”
Ayako Kusunoki
Professor, International Research Center for Japanese Studies

“Experiences, Perspectives, and Encouragements: Edwin and Haru Reischauer’s View of 20th-Century Japanese Democracy”
Ryota Murai
Professor, Faculty of Law, Department of Political Science, Komazawa University

Discussants:

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

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

Moderator:

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

Program on US-Japan Relations Symposium co-sponsored by the Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA)