SPF World Views

Japan and the U.S. Presidential Election｜Nobukatsu Kanehara, Executive Director, Sasakawa Peace Foundation

Our guest today is Nobukatsu Kanehara, Executive Director of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation. Kanehara san has decades of experience in Japanese government, serving in a variety of positions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and later in the Cabinet of Japan, including as Assistant Chief Cabinet Secretary to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe from 2012 to 2019. In our conversation, we discuss how Japan is watching the U.S. presidential election, and how the country might approach a potential Trump or Harris administration. This interview was recorded on October 23, two weeks out from election day in the U.S. and just prior to the Japanese general election, which was held on October 27.

You can read the full transcript of this episode on the SPF website.

Inclusive disaster recovery and local development in Palu City｜Hadianto Rasyid, Mayor of Palu City

Our guest today is Hadianto Rasyid, Mayor of Palu City, located in the province of Central Sulawesi in eastern Indonesia. In 2018, Central Sulawesi was hit by a triple disaster: a magnitude 7.5 earthquake followed by a tsunami and mudslides caused by liquefaction that devastated Palu City and the wider region. In this episode, Ayaka Matsuno, director of the Social Innovation Program at SPF, speaks with Mayor Rasyid about the city’s emergence from this triple disaster, his strategy to use social media to jumpstart dialogue between the government and the local community, and his vision for a more inclusive Palu City.

You can read the full transcript of this episode on the SPF website.

Climate change mitigation and migration in the Maldives｜Dr. Aishath Shehenaz Adam, Vice Chancellor of the Maldives National University

For small island states, rising sea levels and erosion caused by climate change pose an existential threat. The Maldives, a country of nearly 200 inhabited islands dotting the Indian Ocean is one such country. Current estimates predict that the Maldives, which has an average elevation of 1.5 meters above sea level, could be fully submerged by the end of the century.  

The government of the Maldives has spearheaded a unique initiative around an artificial island created near the capital city of Malé. Residents have been encouraged to migrate to this new island to ease congestion in the country’s population centers. This also has the added benefit of protecting residents from rising sea levels.

To learn more about this new type of migration, SPF joined the Maldives National University and partners for a joint research project analyzing the motivations for people moving to this new island. To learn more about the results of this research, we spoke to Dr. Aishath Shehenaz Adam, Vice Chancellor of the Maldives National University.

You can read the full transcript of this episode on the SPF website.

Translating Japan's war records into English｜Dr. Haruo Tohmatsu, Professor of Diplomatic and War History, National Defense Academy

Eighty years ago in the spring of 1944 on the border between modern day Myanmar and the states of Manipur and Nagaland in Northeast India, Japanese and British forces fought in what is regarded as some of the fiercest clashes of WWII. The Battle of Imphal in Manipur and the Battle of Kohima in Nagaland are now regarded as one of the crucial turning points in the Asia-Pacific War, marking a brutal defeat of Japanese forces as they sought to invade India.

In this episode, we speak with Dr. Haruo Tohmatsu, Professor of Diplomatic and War History at the National Defense Academy. He led the project to translate a selection from Japan’s war records, which is called the Senshi Sosho in Japanese. This is perhaps the first time that these important materials covering the Japanese campaign in Northeast India have been made available in English.

As we near the conclusion of this translation project, we are pleased to share our original conversation with Dr. Tohmatsu, which was recorded in New Delhi during the initial book launch for the Senshi Sosho translation in 2022, followed by a quick update recorded more recently in Japan.

You can read the full transcript of this episode on the SPF website.

Japan-U.S. relations at “history’s turning point”｜Tsuneo Watanabe, Senior Fellow, Security Studies Program

Our guest today is Tsuneo “Nabe” Watanabe, senior fellow of the Security Studies Program at SPF. He joined us to talk about the recent state visit by Japanese Prime Minister Kishida to the U.S. Both sides have said that Japan-U.S. relations are closer now than ever, but at the same time, challenges posed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, provocations from North Korea, and recent moves by China, to name a few, have brought us to what Prime Minister Kishida called a turning point in history.

In our conversation, Nabe san breaks down the main outcomes of the visit and considers the implications in the U.S., Japan, and across the Indo-Pacific.

You can read the full transcript of this episode on the SPF website.

Masculinity and the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda｜Maho Nakayama, Director of SPF’s Peacebuilding Program

In October 2000, the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda was formally initiated by the landmark UN Security Council Resolution 1325, which recognizes the critical role of women in preventing and resolving conflicts. The evidence shows that when women participate in peace processes, outcomes improve. As one example, when women participate in peace agreements, the chances of that agreement lasting longer than two years is increased by 20%, and the chances of lasting longer than 15 years goes up by 35%.

While the international community has largely rallied behind the WPS agenda, the reality is that women continue to be excluded from peacebuilding processes and face the devastating consequences of conflicts around the world.

So what is standing in the way of progress with the WPS agenda? One possibility may be engaging men in this process and better understanding how masculinity impacts peacebuilding.

This brings us to our conversation with Maho Nakayama, director of the Peacebuilding Program at SPF. The Peacebuilding Program has been conducting joint research looking into gender equality, peacebuilding, and masculinity based on extensive on-the-ground surveys conducted in three post-conflict areas in Indonesia and the Philippines. Ms. Nakayama discusses how this research illuminates new ideas about the perceptions of gender roles and masculinity, and what that might mean for the future of the WPS agenda.

You can read the full transcript of this episode on the SPF website.

Gender equality and the G20｜Ayaka Matsuno, Director of SPF’s Gender Investment and Innovation Program

The G20 Summit in New Delhi, India, wrapped up earlier this month with a Leaders’ Declaration issued under the theme of “One Earth, One Family, One Future.” While much of the media coverage has focused on the geopolitical implications of the summit, this year’s declaration also made significant strides looking to gender equality and women’s empowerment, including a direct call for increased efforts to “close gender gaps and promote the full, equal, effective and meaningful participation of women in the economy as decision-makers.”
 
To take a closer look at how women’s empowerment was incorporated into the G20 process, we spoke with Ayaka Matsuno, director of the Gender Investment and Innovation Program at SPF. She also served as a co-head of the Japan delegation for Women20 (W20), an engagement group that advocates for the inclusion of gender-related issues in the G20 process.
 
Ms. Matsuno joined SPF World Views to look back on her work as co-head for W20 in Japan, discuss how gender equality initiatives were incorporated into the G20 Leaders' Declaration, and explore the ways that economic empowerment can accelerate progress toward gender equality. 

You can read the full transcript of this episode on the SPF website.

Yenny Wahid, Director of the Wahid Foundation｜A perspective on Japan, Indonesia, and ASEAN

In this episode of SPF World Views, we spoke with Yenny Wahid, a social entrepreneur, political activist, and former journalist who currently serves as the director of the Wahid Foundation in Indonesia. Her roots in politics go back generations, including her father who served as the fourth president of Indonesia.
 
While in Tokyo for the first Asia Statesperson's Forum, organized by SPF’s Asia and Middle East Program, Ms. Wahid joined SPF World Views for a wide-ranging conversation about the challenges facing ASEAN and Indonesia, her work at the Wahid Foundation focusing on women’s empowerment, as well as her thoughts on the future of her political career.

You can read the full transcript of this episode on the SPF website.