How Shinzo Abe Changed Japan Forever

About Speaker

Sir David was previously British Ambassador to Japan from 2008 to 2012, after a career in the British Diplomatic Service focused on East Asian affairs. He was made Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George in 2012 and received the honour of Grand Cordon, Order of the Rising Sun (Japan) in 2017.

Sir David maintains a keen interest in Japan and East Asia, including as Chair of the Japan Society (2013 to 2019), Member of the Management Board, Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures, University of East Anglia (2013 to present) and as Director of the UK/Japan 21st Century Group, a non-governmental forum for promoting greater understanding between the two countries. He is also a Visiting Professor, School of East Asian Studies, University of Sheffield (2019 to present).

Sir David’s other roles include Director, Migration Matters Trust (since 2013); Senior Advisor, Montrose Associates (2014 to present), a strategic intelligence company advising international businesses; Non-Executive Director, Aberdeen Japan Investment Trust (2015 to present); and a Member of the London Symphony Orchestra Advisory Council (2013 to present).

About Speaker

Chris Hughes is Professor of International Politics and Japanese Studies in PAIS and Pro-Vice Chancellor (Education).

He holds degrees from the Universities of Oxford (BA and MA), Rochester (MA), and Sheffield (MA and PhD). He is an honorary Research Associate at IPSHU, and has been a Research Associate at the International Institute for Strategic StudiesLink opens in a new window (IISS), Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House), and Visiting Scholar at the East Asia Institute, the Free University of Berlin.

Currently, Chris works on projects which examine:

– The future trajectory and drivers of Japan’s foreign and security
– Japan’s international relations and ‘grand strategy’
– Defence transformation and new technologies in Japan’s military policy and the Asia-Pacific
– Japanese foreign policy-making
– Japan-China relations
(and more)

About Speaker

Govinda Finn, an Economics Lecturer at Kobe University and sits on our International Advisory Council. He is a former Japan and Developed Asia Economist at Abrdn and is also involved in the Green Finance Initiative through his work on the board of the CityUK’s Japan Market Advisory Group. Govinda graduated with a MA in Japanese Studies, majoring in Asia Pacific Economics from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University London. He completed a BA in Economics and History from Leeds University, which included a year at Darla Moore Business School, University of South Carolina. He holds an Investment Management Certificate.

About Speaker

Sachiko Hirakawa Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at Center for International Education and Lecturer at Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies at Waseda University. She specializes in international politics in East Asia, Asian regional integration, Sino-Japan relations. She received B.A. in Economics from Waseda University, MALD (Master of Art in Law and Diplomacy) from Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, USA, and Ph.D in International Studies from Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies, Waseda University.

About Speaker

Tobias S. Harris is a leading expert of Japanese politics, widely quoted in leading world publications and a regular guest on television and radio programs. He is the senior fellow for Asia at the Center for American Progress.

He has an M.Phil in International Relations from the University of Cambridge and a BA in Politics and History from Brandeis University.

Tobias published the first English-language biography of Japan’s longest-serving prime minister. ‘The Iconoclast’ tells the story of Abe Shinzō’s meteoric rise and stunning fall, his remarkable comeback, and his unlikely emergence as a global statesman struggling to lay the groundwork for Japan’s survival in a turbulent century.