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Japan's Top International Security Analyst Masashi Nishihara Launches Canada-Japan Security Cooperation Program at York University
How should non-military powers like Canada and Japan respond? Should they act in concert with their allies, or only support United Nations' sponsored intervention? Japan's foremost expert on international security, Masashi Nishihara, will be in Toronto to discuss these questions on November 8 and 9. A guest of York University, he will offer two seminars in the Canada-Japan Security Cooperation program at York's Centre for International and Security Studies (YCISS), and give the inaugural lecture at a public affairs dinner on November 8, 6:30 p.m. at Stop 33, Sutton Place Hotel, co-sponsored by York University, the Japan Society, and the Canadian Institute of International Affairs.
As Professor of International Relations and Chair of the School of Social Sciences at the National Defense Academy in Yokosuka, Nishihara has had a major impact on the education of the next generation of Japanese leadership in international diplomacy and security affairs. He is frequently called upon to advise and participate in the development of Japanese policy, and is regularly consulted in the United States and Europe as an expert on world affairs and Japan's emerging role in the global community. He has authored numerous books and articles, international news commentaries, and studies reported to the governments of Japan, the US and Canada. He recently co-authored a report on opportunities for Canadian-Japanese security cooperation.
YCISS Director and Professor of Political Science, David Dewitt, says the Canada-Japan Security Cooperation program is exploring ideas and policy options in both countries for more appropriate and effective responses to global crises. "There is a lot of confusion in the foreign policy arena today with the prevailing, more aggressive, view about when to intervene in a country's internal conflict. And there is a concern in Canada that we are not really clear about what we should be doing," he said.
While policy makers wrestle with these questions, the victims of war demand immediate responses in the form of financial aid and peacekeeping forces. Dewitt notes that while Japan has been the world's largest contributor of Official Development Assistance for the past eight years (US$10.68 billion in 1998), it has been seeking a more direct role in international security arrangements and is now looking to Canadian expertise in peacekeeping. Japan is also grappling with a post-war constitution that severely limits its defense forces' capabilities, and a public distaste for military intervention of any kind, stemming from Japanese wartime aggression in Asia.
"The question of what states should do to protect themselves from missile attack is also more acute for Japan because of recent concern about North Korean missile testing over its air space," said Dewitt. "What should we do about weapons of mass destruction? Do we agree to participate in theatre missile defense systems?" Dewitt says that while discussions of this nature are extremely sensitive in Japan, there may be room for Canada-Japan cooperation on issues of nuclear non-proliferation, a ban on small arms trade, peace building and peacekeeping.
In September 1998, YCISS participated in the initial discussions on Canada-Japan Security Cooperation at a meeting in Vancouver of Japanese and Canadian scholars and officials in their private capacities to discuss areas of possible cooperation. This was followed by a visit to Japan by Canadian non-governmental organizations involved in peace building and peacekeeping. Professor Nishihara's visit to York University will inaugurate the program's distinguished lecture series in Canada, and YCISS has recently received base funding from Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade for a collaborative research project with Japanese scholars. "We are pleased that York University has been selected as one of the principal Canadian partners in this research initiative, and honoured that professor Nishihara is able to offer the inaugural program," said Dewitt.
Nishihara's presentation at York University on Monday, November 8 at 2:30 p.m. is entitled, Asian Values Re-visited, and will take place in the Douglas Verney Room, South 674 Ross Building, Keele Campus, 4700 Keele St. On Tuesday he will talk on Japan-ASEAN Relations at 2:30 p.m. at YCISS, Room 375, York Lanes, Keele Campus. While in Toronto, he will attend a meeting of the Canadian Member Committee of the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (CSCAP-CMC), a non-governmental forum for policy discussions about political and security issues in the Asia Pacific region. CSCAP provides policy recommendations to intergovernmental bodies, such as the ASEAN Regional Forum. YCISS serves as the Secretariat for the Canadian Member Committee.
A complete biography of Prof. Nishihara is attached.
For further information, please contact:
David Dewitt
Steve Mataija
Susan Bigelow
Dr. Masashi Nishihara is Japan's leading analyst and commentator on international security affairs. As Professor of International Relations and Chair of the School of Social Sciences at the National Defense Academy, Yokosuka, Nishihara has had a major impact on the education of the next generation of Japanese leadership on international diplomacy and security affairs. He is regularly called upon to advise and to participate in the development of Japanese policy, though as an independent scholar and academic he also has provided commentary and analysis concerning world affairs and Japan's emerging role in the global community. His knowledge and expertise has been sought both within and outside of Japan, as a senior associate of the Research Institute for Peace and Security (Tokyo), as a member of the Council of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (London), as a Japanese delegate on and contributing author for The Trilateral Commission, and as a central participant of the Japan-UK Group for the 21st Century, the Japan-Korea Forum, the Trilateral Forum on North Pacific Security, and the Japanese-Russian Experts Conference.
As a scholar in both law and politics, Professor Nishihara has published widely. He is the author of academic books and articles, of government reports, of studies reported to the governments of Japan, the United States, and Canada, and of numerous newspaper commentaries. Nishihara has given expert testimony to the Armed Services Committee of the United States Senate and to the Special Security Committee of the Japanese National Diet. He has been a regular participant in projects for the Council of Foreign Relations, The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, The Rockefeller Foundation, The Trilateral Commission, and The Japan Centre for International Exchange. Dr. Nishihara's principal works cover Japan's role in regional and international affairs, Japanese security and defence policy, the Japan-United States security alliance, Japan-Europe relations as well as Indonesian politics, political corruption in Southeast Asia, East Asian security, multilateral peacekeeping, and Vietnamese politics. He recently co-authored a Japan-Canada report on opportunities for Canadian-Japanese security cooperation.
He holds a B.A. in Law from Kyoto University (1962), an M.A. in Political Science from the University of Michigan (1968), and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Michigan (1972).
He was born August 4, 1937 in Osaka, Japan.
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