US Japan Research Articles

A Comparative Study of the Latest Editions of China–Japan–US Green Building Evaluation Standards

A Comparative Study of the Latest Editions of China–Japan–US Green Building Evaluation Standards

Doing Diplomacy

This article uses gastronomy—food, cuisine, manners, setting, and material culture—in an analysis of how US–Japan relations have evolved with the changing role of Japan and Japanese cuisine in the world. Since Japan’s contact with Commodore Perry’s black ships in 1854, the importance of diplomatic dining, which involved learning what and how to eat, was clear. Diplomatic meals are a setting where ritual and protocol are used to homogenize the participants while affirming hierarchies among them. Any deviation from protocol is consequential, but wholly unpredictable. Deviations can be understood only within the history of previous interactions, contemporary connections, and hopes for future relations. The analysis will focus on three memorable meals between economic powerhouses, security partners, former foes, and long-time allies—Japan and the United States—in 1992, 2002, and 2014. Changes in Japan’s role in global politics, the popularity of Japanese cuisine, the Japanese pop-culture boom worldwide, as well as the dispositions of their US counterparts, provided opportunities to deviate from the protocol of formal diplomatic meals. These deviations reflect and reconstitute the ever-evolving US–Japan relations.

Mobilizing ideas of order: Burden‐sharing in the US–Japan and ANZUS alliances

AbstractDebates on allies' contributions to alliances focus mainly on the material dimension. Accordingly, smaller partners are often belittled for failing to contribute their fair share to their defensive alliances with more powerful allies. While acknowledging that junior partners’ contributions do not match the same level of material capabilities provided by a more significant power like the United States, this study highlights the importance of other intangible contributions. We argue that defensive alliances during peacetime require a crucial, albeit overlooked, ideational contribution by all allies. We examine the US–Japan and ANZUS alliances to explore the process through which junior partners advance the interests of an alliance through ideational contributions. Our findings reveal that Japan and Australia contribute to their respective alliances with the United States by mobilizing fundamental ideas and norms that sustain and promote a specific global order and security vision. We maintain that such intangible contributions are necessary for alliance success.

The politics of flu vaccines: international collaboration and political partisanship

Abstract While vaccine hesitancy has become a salient issue, few studies have examined the influence of international collaboration and vaccine developments on people's attitudes towards vaccines. The international collaboration especially with China has been an integral part of the field of influenza. In recent years, attitudes towards vaccines and China are both heavily politicized in the USA with a deepening partisan divide. Republicans are more likely than Democrats to be vaccine hesitant, and they are also more likely to view China negatively. At the same time, the USA has economic, security, and medical collaboration with Japan and most Americans display a very positive view of the country. Thus, does a more international collaboration or more country-specific vaccine development have an influence on US vaccine hesitancy? This study conducts a survey-embedded question-wording experiment to assess the roles of US–China and US–Japan collaboration and partisanship in people's willingness to get the flu vaccine. Despite the previously successful and effective US–China collaboration, this study finds that respondents especially Republicans are much less likely to receive a US–China flu vaccine than a US–Japan or USA alone. Interestingly, both Democrats and Republicans are as willing to receive a US–Japan vaccine as USA alone. These results point to critical roles of partisanship and international relations.

The US–Japan alliance and the role of the US Marines on Okinawa in extended deterrence

Abstract The relocation of the controversial Marine base at Futenma on Okinawa to Henoko in the north of the same island has been framed by Japanese politicians, officials, and analysts as crucial to deterrence. Critics respond that deterrence is merely a pretext, and the relocation is a politically convenient solution that perpetuates discrimination against Okinawa by the central government in Tokyo. This article draws on deterrence theory to evaluate the deterrence claims made by relocation proponents. It finds little evidence to support them: the Marines’ capabilities pale against the massive US forward deployment, including the Seventh Fleet and the Fifth Air Force. As for the local balance of forces, the Marines are unlikely to participate immediately in a local conflict, and their geographical location leaves them vulnerable; current US strategy is to down-scale and disperse Marine units. If one were focusing on defence rather than political convenience, the Marines would be relocated off Okinawa. In terms of credibility, the article finds that other US bases in Japan play a much more important ‘tripwire’ role, and ultimately, given inter alia the security treaty, joint exercises, and deep interoperability, US extended deterrence to Japan is as credible as possible under the circumstances.

Coming out, heteronormativity, and possibilities of intercultural learning in a Google Hangouts telecollaboration

ABSTRACT This study offers an account of the coming out by Amy, a 20-year-old student of Japanese in Boston who has ‘been out to most’ as a cisgender lesbian woman, to Yoko, a 19-year-old student of English in Tokyo who experiences culture shock with Amy's revelation. The data originated from an exchange on Google Hangouts that was part of a US–Japan telecollaboration project. Our goal is to examine the impact of this coming-out event on the students’ experience of the virtual exchange and on their long-term cross-cultural understandings of LGBTQ+ issues and sexual diversity. We first analyze how Amy and Yoko managed the critical event discursively. We then examine the participants’ retrospections collected at the end of the project and again about 5 years later. We find that the two students co-constructed the coming-out event as one of transforming culture shock into a mutual opportunity for interpersonal bonding and intercultural learning. Nevertheless, they also reproduced stereotypical constructions of the US as a country that is open to sexual diversity and Japan as a country where queer lives are invisible. We call for the inclusion of LGBTQ+ identities and gender and sexuality diversity in language pedagogy and research.

Large-scale photovoltaic solar farms in the Sahara affect solar power generation potential globally

Globally, solar projects are being rapidly built or planned, particularly in high solar potential regions with high energy demand. However, their energy generation potential is highly related to the weather condition. Here we use state-of-the-art Earth system model simulations to investigate how large photovoltaic solar farms in the Sahara Desert could impact the global cloud cover and solar generation potential through disturbed atmospheric teleconnections. The results indicate negative impacts on solar potential in North Africa (locally), Middle East, Southern Europe, India, Eastern China, Japan, Eastern Australia, and Southwestern US, and positive impacts in Central and South America, the Caribbean, Central & Eastern US, Scandinavia and South Africa, reaching a magnitude of ±5% in remote regions seasonally. Diagnostics suggest that large-scale atmospheric circulation changes are responsible for the global impacts. International cooperation is essential to mitigate the potential risks of future large-scale solar projects in drylands, which could impact energy production.

In silico analysis for SARS-CoV-2 detection in the context of genetic variability of the Algerian omicron variant.

The risk to public health conferred by the Omicron variant is still not completely clear, although its numerous gene mutations have raised concerns regarding its potential for increased transmissibility and immune escape. In this study, we test the compatibility of the different primers and probes available in different commercial kits sold internationally with all the sequences of SARS-CoV-2 analyzed in Algeria until March 2023. The Algerian SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant sequences were aligned with the Muscle tool using Genious software. We also used primers and probes sequences of seven international RT-qPCR kits; CDC China, Charite Germany, HKU Hong Kong, NIH Thailand, NIID Japan, CDC US, and Pasteur Institute. We used the primer check v2.0 developed by VIROSCIENCE LAB, To identify the different mutations located at the level of primers and probes about the Algerian sequences of SARS-CoV2. Statistical tests were carried out by calculating the test. We found regarding the Forward primer sequences that the two Thailand and Japan kits are less specific to the Algerian version of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant genome compared to the other kits (p=10-6). Furthermore, regarding the Reverse primers and fluorescent Probes, the three kits; Thailand, Japan, and CDC US; are less effective (p=10-6). Regarding all primers and probes, this work allowed us to conclude that the four RT-qPCR kits: CDC China, Charite Germany, NHD Hong Kong, and Pasteur Institute seem to be more specific for the Algerian omicron genome detection and therefore for diagnosis of COVID-19 in Algeria.

Guerilla Women And Men In Silk Dresses: Diplomacy and Orientalism during the 1860 Japanese Mission

Abstract: In the summer of 1860, seventy-seven samurai conducted a month-long tour of Eastern Seaboard cities during a diplomatic mission to advance the fledgling US–Japan relations. The delegation became an instant sensation. News coverage of the visit revolved around a few motifs: feminized representations of the Japanese diplomats; white women's enthusiastic receptions; and castigations of white women's autonomous participation in formal and informal diplomatic arenas. This article interprets the press's feminizing discourse as an instantiation of American orientalism and argues that diplomacy, due to its inherent and historically specific workings, undercut and subverted the press's feminization of Japanese men and devaluation of white women's political capacity and that white women's interracial sexual desire was imagined in such a way that disconnected the organization of sexuality from a rigid male–female gender binary.

Japan's Pacificism as National Identity and a 'Normal' Security Option

Japan faces its most serious and complex defence environment since the end of World War II. The country holds two significant security concerns: first, and critically, China’s burgeoning military, increasingly aggressive diplomacy, and destabilising actions around the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea; second, North Korea’s continued unpredictable rhetoric and actions in its nuclear arming program and ballistic missile testing. Japan’s 2022 National Security Strategy proposes two unprecedented policy ideas to counter these threats: first, to significantly increase Japan’s defence budget; second, to acquire counterstrike long-range missile capabilities in response to an attack. Nonetheless, despite these security issues and policy developments, this article argues that formal amendment of the peace clause in art 9 of the Japanese Constitution remains unlikely. To understand the improbability of constitutional amendment, this article first explores Japan’s constitutional pacifism under the post-World War II Yoshida Doctrine and the US–Japan cornerstone security alliance, as well as the context of North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile threat and the emotive issue of abductions of Japanese citizens. The article then turns to Japan’s historic imperial relationship with China as an avenue to understand contemporary relations, including the key issues of trade and its link to security, and the Senkaku Islands sovereignty dispute. It concludes that formal constitutional amendment of the peace clause remains unlikely in the short to medium term.

A Fragile Convergence: The US–Japan–South Korea Camp David Summit

The US–Japan–South Korea summit was historic, not least because it was the first stand-alone summit between the three countries. The severe deterioration in the security environment in East Asia, in particular China’s menacing of Taiwan and North Korea’s continued nuclear-weapons programme, has been a significant driver of the recent rapprochement between Japan and South Korea. The warming of bilateral ties thus helps to buttress the United States’ separate, formal security alliances between Japan on the one hand and South Korea on the other. But previous thaws have failed, reflecting lingering differences between Japan and South Korea in areas such as their shared history and territorial claims. This convergence is therefore a fragile one.

The security policy community and the consensus on the US–Japan alliance: the role of think tanks, experts and the alliance managers

The article addresses the issue of continuity of the consensus on the US–Japan alliance in the post-Cold War era, by employing the concepts of a security policy community (SPC) that comprises both government office-holders and non-governmental actors focused on the foreign and security policy. The main argument is three-fold; firstly, one of the major forces behind the continuity and enhancement of the security consensus on the US–Japan alliance has been the formation of the transnational SPC that includes members from the US and Japan; secondly, since the end of the Cold War, the SPC has developed a dense network of members, institutions, and practices that supports the advocacy of alliance enhancement as well as community cohesion and nurturing of new members; and thirdly, the think tank- and university-based experts play an increasingly vital role in the formation and dissemination of the security consensus. The article suggests that such arrangements can have both positive and negative consequences and that a proper balance between openness and exclusiveness, expertise and novelty, and continuity and innovation is required in order to maintain a vibrant marketplace of ideas for security policy. The article also indicates that with the transformation of the Indo-Pacific security architecture from the hub and spoke to the networked system, SPC might serve as a model in other US alignments.

The US White-Collar Exemption System and Japan’s High-Level Professional System: A Comparison of Exemption from Working Hours Regulation

The US White-Collar Exemption System and Japan’s High-Level Professional System: A Comparison of Exemption from Working Hours Regulation

When Beijing Chose Seoul over Pyongyang: China–South Korea Diplomatic Normalization Revisited

AbstractOn 24 August 1992, China finally normalized its diplomatic relations with South Korea, notwithstanding North Korea's protestations. What made Beijing jettison its traditional friendship with Pyongyang and recognize Seoul? What did China want from Sino-South Korea normalization? By extensively unearthing hitherto unknown archival evidence, this paper argues that it was China's security concern about being besieged by pro-Soviet powers, rather than an ideological affinity with North Korea, that delayed Sino-South Korea rapprochement. In the same vein, the study posits that it was the gradual Sino-Soviet reconciliation from 1985 onwards that enabled Beijing to reconcile with Seoul. Furthermore, it argues that in the face of the sudden dissolution of the Eastern bloc and the collapse of the Soviet Union, Beijing hastily sought to secure a cordon sanitaire and foreclose the possibility of the formation of a US–Japan–South Korea anti-China united front by normalizing relations with Seoul.

Development of Standard Operation Procedures for Receiving International Emergency Medical Teams. Cooperation Between the United States National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) Disaster Medical Assistant Team (DMAT) and Japan DMAT

Introduction:Japan DMAT and US DMAT have been conducting several tabletop exercises to prepare for major earthquake disasters in Japan. Japan is predicting overwhelming disasters on Japanese soil soon, which needs efficient and optimum use of resources in medical assistance, including additional support from the US. The Japanese government established a large-scale Earthquake/Tsunami Disaster Emergency Response protocol in 2020. However, this protocol does not include any standard operation procedure (SOP) to receive an international medical team. The purpose of this study is to establish the SOP of receiving medical assistance from US-DMAT based on the WHO International Emergency Team (EMT) initiative through tabletop exercises.Method:Collaborated with the Office of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) of the United States Health and Human Services, tabletop exercises assuming that a large-scale earthquake occurred during the hosting of the 2025 Osaka Expo was conducted utilizing an online meeting system.Results:A provisional SOP was composed. Even though Japan had several disaster medical assistance collaborations with US DMAT and is well-familiarized with the Classification and Minimum Standards for Emergency Medical Teams", many issues need to be prepared to accept US DMAT.Conclusion:Numerous procedures need to be conducted to receive US DMAT assistance during a large-scale earthquake in Japan. With this SOP, receiving US medical team assistance will be conducted promptly, eventually saving many lives. This SOP can be modified for other international teams' acceptance in Japan. It could reference other countries seeking to have SOP for receiving international medical team assistance shortly.

Japan in 2022

Japan’s domestic politics in 2022, though immensely shocked by Abe’s assassination, continued as usual without major changes from 2021. The LDP–Komeito coalition prevails, and opposition coalitions failed to prevent it from dominating. Although the Japanese economy is recovering from COVID-19 with increasing consumption, the recovery rate is slower than expected. The Japanese economy suffered both internally and externally in 2022. While adhering to the principle of exclusive self-defense under the US–Japan Security Treaty, the Kishida government is trying to improve deterrence with a new security strategy focusing on strengthening its counterstrike capability.

Space and the US–Japan alliance: reflections on Japan's geopolitical and geoeconomic strategy

AbstractJapan, and its alliance with the USA, is central to the unfolding politics of the new space race. This essay draws attention to the ways the Japanese state has positioned its geopolitical and geoeconomic interests related to space in the context of the US–Japan alliance. It probes the material and ideational elements that are driving the Japanese state to closer alignment with its formal ally in the military, civilian, and commercial space domains. But while all these realities bode well for alliance collaboration, there are reasons to be cautious. While the Japanese state has proactively aligned its space policy and postures with the USA, it is not forever caught in the US orbit. Given the uncertain fate of US domestic politics that bears on great power competition, Japan is also prudently positioning for how the status of its ally may evolve. This is what complicates straightforward projections about alliance cooperation and balance of power politics in the unfolding international space order.

Preventing the Philippines from pivoting toward China: The role of the US–Japan security alliance

Shortly after becoming the Philippines’ 16th president in mid-2016, Rodrigo Roa Duterte had unraveled his predecessor's agenda of standing up to China's expansive claims in the South China Sea. He distanced his country from its long-time treaty ally and gravitated toward China which is resolute in reconfiguring the global commons in the Asia-Pacific region. He also set aside the 2016 UNCLOS decision on the South China Sea dispute favorable to the Philippines. His appeasement toward China contrasted sharply with the late President Benigno Aquino III's balancing strategy. President Duterte reoriented Philippine policy alarmed both the US and Japan. Consequently, Washington and Tokyo shored up their respective security ties with the Philippine military. The effort was aimed to prevent the Philippines from being pulled into China's orbit. Moreover, the US is the hub while Japan and the Philippines are spokes in the San Francisco System of alliances. This article concludes that the 1950 San Francisco Peace Conference not only established the series of US bilateral alliances in Asia, but also laid down the foundation of regional order and security which outlives the Cold War, and prevailed way beyond the second decade of the 21st century.

Chapter Twenty: Rethinking Japan–US relations: security issues

Strategic links between Japan and Europe during the Cold War were limited. During this period the IISS helped bridge the gap between the two, exposing its membership base to the international affairs of Asia and Japan and providing Japanses scholars, strategists and diplomats with a platform from which to amplify their voices in the West. Analyses by these experts often appeared in IISS publications, but the Institute also gained key insights through its well-established conferences and lecture series. These initiatives illuminated Japanese strategic thinking and perspectives on contemporary critical issues in Japan’s and Asia’s foreign, security and defence policy.This Adelphi book, through its collection of earlier analysis, helps the reader to understand the evolution of Japanese strategic thought from the 1960s until today, and shines a light on the continuities and changes in this thinking. New, original analysis of the material seeks to identify areas where such thinking was prescient and remains relevant to the contemporary strategic environment, and other areas where predictions failed or assumptions were proved wrong. These new essays were also informed by interviews of Japanese senior scholars and diplomats who spent time with the IISS. This book seeks to frame, educate and guide strategic thinking on the most pressing issues of today, both in and outside Japan and Asia, and will be of great interest to analysts, practitioners and students of international affairs.

Investigation of the Receiving United States National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) Disaster Medical Assistant Team (DMAT) in Japan: Development of Standard Operation Procedures for Receiving International Medical Teams

Background/Introduction:Japan DMAT and US DMAT have been collaborating in the past to prepare for expected and unexpected disasters in Japan. Japan is predicting overwhelming disasters on Japanese soil soon, which needs efficient and optimum use of resources in medical assistance, including additional support from overseas, particularly from the US. The Japanese government established a large-scale Earthquake/Tsunami Disaster Emergency Response protocol in 2020. However, this protocol does not include any standard operation procedure (SOP) to receive an international medical team.Objectives:Establishing the SOP of receiving medical assistance from US-DMAT based on the WHO International Emergency Team (EMT) initiative.Method/Description:Collaborated with the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) of the United States Health and Human Services, tabletop exercises assuming that a large-scale earthquake occurred during hosting the 2025 Osaka Expo was conducted online meeting system.Results/Outcomes:Provisional SOP was formed by the Japan research team and ASPR representatives. Even though Japan had several disaster medical assistance collaborations with US DMAT and is well-familiarized with the Classification and Minimum Standards for Emergency Medical Teams, many issues need to be prepared to accept US DMAT.Conclusion:Numerous procedures need to be conducted to receive US DMAT assistance during a large-scale earthquake in Japan. With this SOP, receiving US medical team assistance will be conducted promptly, eventually saving many lives. This SOP can be modified for other international teams’ acceptance in Japan. It could reference other countries seeking to have SOPs for receiving international medical team assistance in the near future.