#  Program on U.S.-Japan Relations 

 



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The Weatherhead Center’s Program on U.S.-Japan Relations celebrates its thirty-fifth year as a leading program that brings together faculty, students, and visitors at Harvard to advance social science research on Japan’s global role. During the 2014–2015 academic year, the program’s weekly seminars featured **Alexis Dudden** (University of Connecticut; 2006), **Takeo Hoshi** (Stanford University), **Takatoshi Ito** (Columbia University), **John Mearsheimer** (University of Chicago), **Joseph S. Nye, Jr.** (Harvard Kennedy School), **Wei-hsin Yu** (University of Maryland), and many others. In April 2015, the program hosted its twenty-eighth Distinguished Visitor on campus, and honored **Ellis Krauss**, professor in the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies at University of California, San Diego.

   ![Image of conference panel](/sites/g/files/omnuum8891/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/wcfia/files/2.jpg?itok=Os4VQElw) 

 

Former Associates of the Program on U.S.-Japan Relations have had distinguished careers in international organizations, government, business, media, and academia. They include **Ban Ki-Moon** (1985), Secretary General of the United Nations; **Hisashi Owada** (1981), Judge at the International Court of Justice; **Fred Hiatt** (1987), Editorial Page Editor of the *Washington Post*; **Naoyuki Shinohara** (1986), Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund; **Naoko Ishii** (1985), Chairperson of Global Environmental Facility in the World Bank Group; **Mariko Bando** (2007), Chancellor and President of Showa Women’s University; **Katsuya Okada** (1986), President of the Democratic Party of Japan; **Tsuyoshi Okamoto** (1987), Chairman of the Board of Tokyo Gas Company, Ltd.; **Kojiro Shiraishi** (1990), President and Senior Executive Editor of *Yomiuri Shimbun*; **Tateshi Higuchi** (2001), Japanese Ambassador to Myanmar; **Heizo Takenaka** (1981), former cabinet member and Professor of Economics at Keio University; **Junko Kato** (1997), Professor at the Graduate School for Law and Politics, University of Tokyo; and **Koichi Hamada** (2011), Tuntex Professor of Economics, Emeritus, at Yale University and Special Advisor to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

   ![Image of conference panel](/sites/g/files/omnuum8891/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/wcfia/files/1.jpg?itok=0Ny3LA-m) 

 

The program’s former Postdoctoral Fellows now hold senior faculty positions in universities in the United States and around the world. They include **Daniel Aldrich** (2007), Professor of Political Science, Purdue University; **Verena Blechinger-Talcott** (2003), Professor of Japanese Politics and Political Economy, Berlin Free University; **Jennifer Chan** (2005), Associate Professor of Education, University of British Columbia; **Erin Chung** (2004), Charles E. Miller Associate Professor of East Asian Politics, Johns Hopkins University; **Ian Condry** (2007), Professor of Japanese Cultural Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; **Christina Davis** (2002), Professor of Politics and International Affairs, Princeton University; **Margarita Estévez-Abe** (2001), Associate Professor of Political Science, Syracuse University; **William Grimes** (1996), Professor of Political Science and International Relations, Boston University; **David Johnson** (1997), Professor of Sociology, University of Hawaii, Manoa; **Hans Martin Krämer** (2007), Professor of Japanese Studies, Heidelberg University; **Henry Laurence** (1997), Associate Professor of Government and Asian Studies, Bowdoin College; **David Leheny** (2002), Henry Wendt III ’55 Professor of East Asian Studies, Princeton University; **Patricia Maclachlan** (1996), Associate Professor of Government and Asian Studies, University of Texas, Austin; **Mark Manger** (2008), Associate Professor in the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto; **Kim Reimann** (2002), Associate Professor of Political Science, Georgia State University; **Ethan Scheiner** (2002), Professor of Political Science, University of California, Davis; **Ming Wan** (1994), Professor of Public and International Affairs, George Mason University; and **Michael Witt** (2001), Professor of Asian Business and Comparative Management, INSEAD. In addition, **Mireya Solis** (2001) serves as Senior Fellow and Philip Knight Chair in Japan Studies at the Brookings Institution, and **Frank Schwartz** (1991) serves as President of Showa Boston Institute.

### Photo Captions

Top: Former Weatherhead Center Director, Joseph S. Nye, Jr., speaking on his recent book, *Is the American Century Over? Photo credit: Jennie Kim*

Bottom (right to left): Susan Pharr, speaking at a symposium on “Advancing the Status of Women in a Globalizing Japan: A 70-Year Retrospective,” together with Mariko Bando (Showa Women’s University), Sumiko Iwao (Keio University and Tokyo City University), and Margarita Estévez-Abe (Syracuse University). *Photo credit: Lisa Cohen*



 



 

 See also:- [ Centerpiece: Spring 2015 ](/newsletter-issues/centerpiece-spring-2015)