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Lecture Series: Takako Hikotani “Stepping Up (Is hard to do?)”

Shinzo Abe
Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe

April 27, 2018

What impact is the Trump administration having on Japan’s role in the world? How is Japan shaping international relations economically and politically as a result? Takako Hikotani (Columbia University) gave her talk “Stepping Up (Is hard to do?)” on April 19, 2018, as part of the Griffith and Patricia Way lecture series.

Hikotani’s recent article “Trump’s Gift to Japan” in Foreign Affairs magazine has sparked debate about the leadership roleof Japan.  She will be focusing on how Japan has adapted to the Trump administration thus far, current policies under the slogan “Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy,” and the challenges and limitations to Japanese international relations of the future arguing that a role reversal is necessary for Japan. Rather than continuing as the beneficiary of a liberal order led by the U.S., Japan must do everything it can to save that order, and keep the U.S. from withdrawing from it altogether.

Takako Hikotani is a Gerald L. Curtis Associate Professor of Modern Japanese Politics and Foreign Policy at Columbia University. Her article “Trump’s Gift to Japan” (Foreign Affairs, October ’17) has spurred debate about the impact of the Trump presidency on U.S.-Japan relations. Professor Hikotani previously held positions at the National Defense Academy of Japan, the Ground Self Defense Force and Air Self Defense Force Staff Colleges, and the National Institute for Defense Studies.

Stepping Up (is hard to do?) is the latest in the annual Way Lecture Series which was established in 2006 in honor of Griffith and Patricia Way’s dedication and commitment to the study of Japan.