Lecture
A Two-Party System for Japan: Possible? Probable? Desirable?
- Lecturer: Steven R. Reed Professor, Chuo University
- Moderator: Aiji Tanaka Professor, Waseda University
- Date & Time: Friday, December 12, 2003 7:00 pm
- Venue: Lecture Hall, International House of Japan
Steven R. Reed
Analyzing the results of the November 9th general election for the House of Representatives, two distinguished scholars will gaze into the crystal bowl of Japanese politics. Professor Reed, who received his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Michigan, specializes in comparative politics with a focus on parties, election, and electoral systems. Prior to joining the Faculty of Policy Studies, Chuo University, he taught at various universities, including the University of Alabama, Chiba University, Harvard University, and the University of Tokyo. He has authored and edited many books on Japanese politics, including Making Common Sense of Japan (Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1993), Japan Election Data: The House of Representatives, 1947-1990 (Ann Arbor, MI: Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan, 1992) and Japanese Prefectures and Policy Making (Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1986). Professor Reed is also known as a TV commentator. Professor Tanaka, who received his M.A. and Ph.D. in political science from Ohio State University, is a leading expert on Japanese politics. He is also a frequent contributor to major newspapers. His major publications include Religion and Politics in Japan (co-author; Cambridge University Press, 2002).
International House of Japan / Japan Foundation Asia Center
Asia Leadership Fellow Program Public Symposium
UNEQUAL WORLDS: And the Roads Ahead
- October 28 (Tue) & 29 (Wed), 2003, 6-9 p.m.
- Lecture Hall, International House of Japan
The Asia Leadership Fellow Program (ALFP) invites you to hear and interact with intellectuals from eight Asian countries who will address some of the vital issues of our time. These issues range from military threats to democracy, to the complex fallout of globalization. Each year the ALFP invites distinguished intellectuals from Asian nations to spend three months in Japan and collaborate on concerns crucial to Asia. The Program encourages dialogue amongst the Fellows aimed at throwing up new ideas and visions for the region. The present eight ALFP Fellows have worked on the theme “Identity, Security & Democracy” for some weeks now. They have done so by engaging in seminars, workshops, personal study and field trips. This symposium brings together some of that work, in its common concerns and varied perspectives.
- Tuesday, October 28
- “The Military of Indonesia: Predator or Protector of Democracy?”
Hamid BASYAIB (Indonesia), Writer/Activist, AKSARA Foundation - “Media and Democracy: Cambodian Perspectives”
HAM Samnang (Cambodia), Assistant Director/Senior Research Fellow, Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace (CICP) - “In Search of Minority Reports”
Supara JANCHITFAH (Thailand), Reporter/Writer for the Bangkok Post - ” Energy Gap and Energy Partnership”
YANG Guang (China), Professor and Director-General, Institute of West-Asian and African Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Science
- Wednesday, October 29
- “The End of Victimhood?: Changing Self-Image of Koreans in Japan”
CHUNG Chin-sung (Korea), Professor, Department of Sociology, Seoul National University - “Japanese Lifestyle, Asian Desires: From Ricecookers to Pop Culture”
NAKANO Yoshiko (Japan), Research Assistant Professor, Department of Japanese Studies, University of Hong Kong - “Museums and Empire: An Early 21st Century Sketch”
Marian PASTOR Roces (Philippines), Critic and Independent Curator; President, Tao, Inc. - “The Age of Inequality: Life in the Times of Market Fundamentalism”
PALAGUMMI Sainath (India), Free-lance Journalist
Lecture
U.S Policy Toward a Changing World:
A New American Century or the End of the American Era ?
- Lecturer: Charles A. Kupchan Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations
Professor, Georgetown University - Date & Time: 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 15, 2003
- Venue: Lecture Hall, International House of Japan
- Language: English
Charles A. Kupchan
Having received his Ph.D. in political science from Oxford University, Prof. Kupchan is an internationally acclaimed scholar specializing in national security and international relations. Prior to joining the Council on Foreign Relations, he served as Director for European Affairs at the National Security Council, the White House. His latest book, The End of the American Era: U.S. Foreign Policy and the Geopolitics of the Twenty-first Century (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2002), has triggered lively discussion among not only scholars but also the general public in the United States. Its Japanese translation will be published from the NHK Publishing Co., Ltd. in October.
- Lecturer: Clifford Pearson Senior Editor, Architectural Record
- Commentator: Kengo Kuma, Architect
- Date & Time: Tuesday, May 27, 2003 7:00 pm
- Venue: Lecture Hall, International House of Japan
Lecture
The Cutting Edge:
How Japanese Architects are Pushing Design Forward
With Japanese architects demonstrating their talents at home and abroad, they are taking design in new directions. Their innovative approach to materials, forms, and landscape is influencing designers from around the globe. Against this backdrop, Mr. Pearson will examine in this lecture how Japanese architecture is contributing to shaping trends in world architecture. An award-winning architect, Kengo Kuma, will respond as a commentator.
Clifford Pearson
Having received a B.A. in Urban Studies and Law from Cornell University and an M.A. in Architectural History from Columbia University, Mr. Clifford Pearson launched his career as an architectural journalist in 1981 and joined the Architectural Record in 1989. While being responsible for coordinating and editing the magazine’s coverage of Asia and feature stories, he has written for the New York Times and the Washington Post. His major publications include: Modern American Houses: Four Decades of Award-winning Design in Architectural Record (editor, New York: Harry Abrams, 1996) and Indonesia: Design and Culture: Java, Sumatra, Sulawesi, Bali (New York: Monacelli Press, 1998). He has spent two months in Japan as a US-Japan Foundation Media Fellow, co-sponsored by the Japan Society in New York and the International House of Japan, visiting and observing technology and tradition in Japanese architecture, particularly as seen in public buildings.
Presentations and Panel Discussion by Nitobe Fellows
“Research Abroad in the Internet Era:
Suggestions for the International Academic Exchange in the 21st Century”
- Date & Time:Thursday, March 27, 2003 4:00-8:30p.m.
- Venue: International House of Japan
- Language: Japanese only
- *For further details of the program, please visit our Japanese website.
“Crisis on the Korean Peninsula: Implications for Japan and the U.S.”
- Lecturer: L. Gordon Flake Executive Director, Mansfield Center for Pacific Affairs
- Date & Time: Wednesday, February 12, 2003, 7:00p.m.
- Venue: Lecture Hall, International House of Japan
L. Gordon Flake
L. Gordon Flake has held his present position since February of 1999, after acting as Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council of the United States and Director of Research at the Korea Economic Institute. He lived for several years in South Korea, visited North Korea on numerous occasions, and is a frequent contributor to the U.S. and Asian press. He authored a number of scholarly articles on Korea and just finished a jointly authored book, due to be published in this Spring, on the experience of the NGO community in North Korea.
Mr. Flake will discuss the origins of the current stand-off on the Korean Peninsula, assess the prospects for its resolution and examine the implications for Japan and the U.S.
*Co-sponsored by Mansfield Center for Pacific Affairs.
International House of Japan / Japan Foundation Asia Center
Asia-Pacific Youth Forum Public Symposium
“Seeking Peace in an Age of Turmoil: Voices of Asia’s Young Leaders”
- Date & Time: Monday, January 27, 2003 6-9 p.m.
- Venue: Lecture Hall, International House of Japan
- Panelists:
Niloy Banerjee, Consultant, UNDP, Bureau of Dervelopment Policly (India)
Francis Gealogo, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Ateneo de Manila University (the Philippines)
Kim Kyung-Mook, Research Fellow, Japan International Volunteer Center (Korea)
Sri Purwati, Freelance Journalist (Indonesia)
Gawin Chutima, Associate Director, Thai Fund Foundation / Development Support Consortium (Thailand) - Discussant: Kiichi Fujiwara, Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Tokyo
Moderator: Patricio Abinales, Associate Professor, Center for South East Asian Studies, Kyoto University
What the historian Eric J. Hobsbawm called the “Age of Extremes” to describe the 20th century now appears to be followed by an “Age of Turmoil.” The end of the Cold War has not brought world peace. Instead, tensions and conflicts have spread, in part driven by an ethico-religious opposition to the domination of the United States, and in part by unresolved fundamental differences within nation-states. Globalization the hastened spread of capitalism and the deepening of its practices in areas where it is already in place has not brought prosperity as its defenders once predicted. Instead, the inequalities between the world’s poor and its small affluent classes have widened, while the search for new markets, the hastening of production and trade have led to wanton destruction of precious ecological resources.
The reality is that this turbulent era cannot continue. At a certain point, conflicts will worsen to unimaginable proportions, while nation-states and communities will experience profound stress that may even lead to their breakdown. The environment can only sustain so much damage. The awareness of impending devastation has moved many to try to prevent us from reaching that point. Already there are attempts by communities, civil groups and even governments to address the issues of economic inequality, ecological disaster and social harmony. A crucial group involved in such efforts is the younger generation.
In this public symposium, we invite the public to listen to the experiences of Asia’s young leaders in the fields of humanitarian assistance, social movements, human rights, gender, etc. as they attempt to confront this Age of Turmoil.