To mark the publication of a newly edited book Modern Japan’s Place in World History and recent developments in Anglo-Japanese security relations, we are hosting a webinar that will shine a light on modern Japan’s engagement with the outside world during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
The speakers include Professor Yuichi Hosoya (Keio), Ayako Kusunoki (International Research Center for Japanese Studies, Kyoto) and Barak Kushner (Cambridge) and the event will be chaired by Antony Best (LSE).
In January 2023, Japan concluded the Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA) with the UK. This agreement will increase Japan’s place in the UK’s defence policy. Moreover, it will undoubtedly expand the UK’s deeper engagement to the Indo-Pacific region. Nearly a century ago in 1902, having faced the spread of the influence of Russian empire in the Eurasian continent, the Anglo-Japanese alliance treaty was concluded in London. Japan’s role in the global politics was limited around that time, and she paved a turbulent path in world history afterwards. Today, Japan is defending the international order based on the rule of law, and has just begun the presidency of the G7 summit as well as being a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. Based on its close security partnerships with the US and the UK, Japan needs to present its vision for a free and open international order, at a time when the world is divided into liberal democracies and authoritarian regimes. In this webinar, modern Japan’s place in world history will be reexamined based on new historical evidence.
Yuichi Hosoya (@Yuichi_Hosoya) is Professor of International Politics within the Faculty of Law at Keio University, Japan. He studied international politics at Rikkyo (BA), Birmingham (MIS), and Keio (Ph.D.). He was a visiting professor and Japan Chair (2009–2010) at Sciences-Po in Paris (Institut d’Études Politiques), a visiting fellow (Fulbright Fellow, 2008–2009) at Princeton University, and Visiting Fellow at Downing College, the University of Cambridge (2021-2022). His research interests include postwar international history, British diplomatic history, Japanese foreign and security policy, and contemporary East Asian international politics.
Ayako Kusunoki is Professor at The International Research Center for Japanese Studies (Nichibunken). She has authored Yoshida Shigeru and the Making of Japan’s Postwar Security Policy: the Interaction of Ideas for Peace and Stability between the United States and Japan, 1943-1952 and History of Modern Japanese Politics, Vol. 1: From Occupation to Independence, 1945-1952, among other writings.
Barak Kushner is Professor of East Asian History and is currently Co-Chair of the Faculty of Asian & Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Cambridge.
This event will be Chaired by Antony Best, Professor of International History at LSE who works on the international history of East Asia.
How to attend:
Registration is required. Visit Eventbrite.
Sign up to attend the event online. Visit Zoom.
Email ih.events@lse.ac.uk if you have any questions about the event.