Posts Tagged ‘Japan’
Professor Ezra Vogel: An extraordinary and exemplary scholar
Ezra Vogel was an erudite doyen of contemporary Chinese and Japanese studies. He straddled the multi-disciplines of sociology, anthropology, linguistics, history, political science and international relations. Few scholars can match Vogel’s intellectual breadth and boldness, and profound understanding of two major civilizations — Chinese and Japanese — given the perchance of narrow academic specialization today.
Read MoreReflections on the Korea Foundation Project “Japan and Korea in the Evolving China-US Relations”
Reflections on the Korea Foundation Project “Japan and Korea in the Evolving China-US Relations” Hostility remains a persistent feature of Japan-South Korea relations. Trade restrictions, territorial disputes, unreconciled historical issues continue to confound the two neighbouring countries, with the prospect of a sustainable bilateral relations appears to become more unthinkable compared to the prior decades.…
Read MoreWho’s the Real Threat to Japan?
Who’s the Real Threat to Japan? The recent agreement on the planned national security legislation between the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its coalition partner, Komeito, is hardly a cause for celebration. While the latter convinced the former to include a “break” mechanism that would require Diet’s approval before allowing SDF dispatch, it hardly…
Read MoreLaw, Conflict and Airspace: Understanding Air Defense Identification Zones
With states drawing up unilaterally declared defense identification zones that can extended for hundreds of miles beyond territorial airspace, alongside growing fears that these zones will harden into claims of full sovereignty, a once benign security practice has rapidly evolved into a source of conflict over East Asia’s contested skies.
Read MoreReconsidering Land Reform and Agricultural Policy in Japan
This essay seeks to add land relations with a particular emphasis on the consequences of Japan’s post-1945 land reform program to the more recent discussion on ‘human security’ (or non-traditional security concerns) in East Asia.
Read MoreThe Caution of Collective Memory: Why Japan’s 1947 Constitution is Worth Fighting for
Any attempt to revise Article 9 would not only derange Japan’s security situation, but more importantly, would dislodge practices of commemoration for the past 60 years as merely tokenistic. That would seriously fracture the very core of Japan’s state identity.
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