Robert Ward hosts Professor Akiyama Nobumasa, Professor of International Security at Hitotsubashi University and Director of the Japan Institute of International Affairs’ Center for Disarmament, Science and Technology; Dr Lami Kim, IISS Korea Chair in Advanced Technologies, National Security and Defence; and Dr Daniel Salisbury, Senior Fellow for Nuclear-Arms Control, Non-Proliferation and Disarmament at the IISS, to discuss Japan’s nuclear policy as the nuclear environment in East Asia shifts rapidly.

Together, they explore:

• China’s nuclear expansion and what the US–China strategic-stability agenda means for Japan.
• North Korea’s advancing nuclear and missile programmes and the nuclear debate in South Korea.
• The Takaichi government’s approach to nuclear policy and the three non-nuclear principles.
• The credibility of US extended deterrence for Japan and South Korea.
• Japan’s role in non-proliferation and what the revisions to Japan’s security strategy may say on nuclear policy.

Recommended readings from our guests:

• Miyazaki Hayao, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Vol 6, (Tokyo: Tokuma Shoten Publishing, 1993), 168pp.
• Akasaka Norio, Anne, Inaba Shinichiro, Oki Takeshi, Osawa Masachi, Owara Sumito, Kanō Seiji, Kawakami Hiromi, Koizumi Yu, Kono Shintaro, Sato Yusuke, Sugimoto Bauens Jessica, Suzuki Suzumi, Suzuki Toshio, Takemiya Keiko, Naganuma Takeshi, Fukuoka Shinichi and Miyazaki Tetsuya, Kiki no Jidai ni Yomitoku Kaze no Tani no Nausica [Reading in Times of Crisis: Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind], (Tokyo: Tokuma Shoten Publishing Co, 2023), 248pp.
• Sheila A Smith, Japan Rearmed: The Politics of Military Power, (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2019), 304pp.
• Lami Kim, Everything But the Bomb: South Korea’s Nuclear Hedging Strategy, (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, forthcoming 2027), 201pp.
• John Hersey, Hiroshima, (New York: Vintage Books, 1989), 152pp.
• Nagai Takashi, The Bells of Nagasaki, (New York: Kodansha America Inc, 1984), 118pp.

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: 30 September 2026

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

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

Robert Ward hosts Satake Tomohiko, Professor at the School of International Politics, Economics and Communication (SIPEC) at Aoyama Gakuin University, and Genna Lehman, non-resident fellow at the United States Studies Centre’s Economic Security Programme in Sydney, about Japan-Australia relations.

Together, they explore:

• The evolution of Middle Power cooperation between Japan and Australia
• The growing cooperation in defence industry between Japan and Australia
• Japan’s recent successful rare-earth project with Australia’s Lynas
• Future Japan-Australia cooperation

Recommended readings from our guests:

• Yoshihide Soeya, Masayuki Tadokoro, and David A. Welch. (Eds.). Japan as a 'Normal Country'?: A Nation in Search of Its Place in the World (Toronto: University of Tront Press, 2011).
• Michael Green, Line of Advantage: Japan’s Grand Strategy in the Era of Abe Shinzō. (New York: Columbia University Press, 2022).

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: 13 August 2026

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

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

Robert Ward hosts Professor Kotani Ken, Professor of College of Risk Management at Nihon University, for an in-depth discussion on the recent reforms of Japan’s intelligence capabilities.

Together, they explore:

• The significance of the recent setting up of Japan’s first National Intelligence Bureau and National Intelligence Council
• Japan’s strengths and weaknesses in intelligence capabilities
• Japan’s further cooperation with foreign intelligence agencies
• Upcoming related intelligence policies and reforms

Recommended readings from our guests:

• Brad Williams, Japanese Foreign Intelligence and Grand Strategy: From the Cold War to the Abe Era, (Washington DC: Georgetown University Press, 2021), 280pp.

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: 31 July 2026

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

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