Robert Ward hosts Kristi Govella, senior advisor and Japan chair at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies and Eva Pejsova, Japan chair at the Centre for Security, Diplomacy and Strategy of the Brussels School of Governance. They review Japan’s security and diplomacy in 2025.

Together, they explore:

• The US tariffs on Japan and trade negotiations between the two countries
• Ishiba Shigeru’s legacy as prime minister
• Takaichi Sanae’s selection as prime minister, her cabinet appointments and the collapse of the LDP-Komeito coalition
• Changing security relations with the US and other countries
• The policy agenda for the Takaichi administration

Recommended materials from our guests:

• Kenneth M. McElwain (ed.), Robert J. Pekkanen (ed.), Daniel M. Smith (ed.), Japan Decides 2024 (Cham: Palgrave Macmillan), 365pp.
• Michael J. Green, Line of Advantage: Japan’s Grand Strategy in the Era of Abe Shinzō (New York: Columbia University Press), 328pp.
• Andrew L. Oros, Japan’s Security Renaissance: New Policies and Politics for the Twenty-First Century (New York: Columbia University Press), 320pp.

We hope you enjoy the episode. Please follow, rate, and subscribe to Japan Memo on your preferred podcast platform. If you have any comments or questions, please contact us at japanchair@iiss.org.

Date recorded: 28th November 2025

Japan Memo is recorded and produced at the IISS in London.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Robert Ward hosts Ogi Hirohito, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Geoeconomics; Ito Ayano, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of ITO Strategy Company; and Tom Corben, Research Fellow at the United States Studies Centre. They discuss the increasing cooperation between Japan and the US in the defence industry.

Together, they explore: 

· How Takaichi and Trump might cooperate on US-Japan defence-industrial issues

· The Takaichi government’s new policies in relation to the defence industry

· How the defence industry in Japan and the US views recent defence-industrial policy changes

· Defence-industrial cooperation with third countries, through initiatives such as GCAP

· How the US views defence-industrial cooperation with Japan and the effect of the upcoming US National Security Strategy on this

Recommended materials from our guests: 

· Alan Booth, The Roads to Sata,(London: Penguin, 2020), 336pp.

· Tobias S Harris, The Iconoclast, (London: Hurst, 2023), 504pp.

· Anno Hideki and Higuchi Shinji, Shin Gozilla, (Toho Co, 2016).

We hope you enjoy the episode. Please follow, rate, and subscribe to Japan Memo on your preferred podcast platform. If you have any comments or questions, please contact us at japanchair@iiss.org.

Date recorded: 4 November 2025

Japan Memo is recorded and produced at the IISS in London.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Robert Ward hosts Yamashita Yukari, Managing Director at the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan (IEEJ), and Stephen Stapczynski, Asia Energy Team Leader at Bloomberg News, for an in-depth discussion on the current state and future direction of Japan’s energy security.

Together, they explore: 

• Japan’s 7th Strategic Energy Plan and its emphasis on economic security and energy mix.
• The balance between renewables, nuclear and fossil fuels in achieving realistic decarbonisation.
• Japan’s pioneering role in global LNG investment and supply security — a model now studied by the European Union.
• Japan’s initiatives in hydrogen and blue ammonia cooperation with the Middle East and ASEAN.
• The policy and market challenges shaping Japan’s energy strategy towards 2040.

Recommended readings from our guests:  

• Hyakuta Naoki, Kaizoku to yobareta otoko [A man called a pirate] (Tokyo: Kodansha, 2012), 386pp.
• Michael Booth, Sushi and beyond: What the Japanese know about cooking (London: Vintage Publishing, 2010), 336pp.

We hope you enjoy the episode. Please follow, rate, and subscribe to Japan Memo on your preferred podcast platform. If you have any comments or questions, please contact us at japanchair@iiss.org. 

Date recorded: 8 October 2025

Japan Memo is recorded and produced at the IISS in London.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.