Newsletter No. 730
Information-Announcement
September 7, 2007

 

INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP ON JAPAN’S SILK ROAD DIPLOMACY

An international workshop examining Japan’s recent political activities in Central Asia will be held in Tokyo in a couple of weeks’ time. The program appears highly interesting, and I myself will be an attendee at this event. If the organizers and speakers give me permission, I will later provide some kind of summary for the Shingetsu Newsletter.

International Workshop: Japan’s Silk Road Diplomacy -- Paving the Road Ahead

Place: Sanjo Conference Hall, University of Tokyo
Time: Saturday, September 22, 2007: 09:30-17:00+

Organizing Institutions:

The Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program (Washington, D.C. / Stockholm)
The Slavic Research Center, Hokkaido University (Sapporo)
Islamic Area Studies Program, University of Tokyo (Tokyo)

Co-Chairs:

Tetsuya Hirose (Former Japanese Ambassador to Azerbaijan)
Christopher Len (Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program)

Program of Events:

Session One: Japan's New Role in Central Asia

Akio Kawato (Former Japanese Ambassador to Uzbekistan)
“Formulation of Japan’s Policy ‘Central Asia Plus Japan’”

Christopher Len (Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program)
“Japan’s Evolving Central Asian Policy”

Takeshi Yuasa (The National Institute for Defense Studies, Japan)
”Japan’s Developing Initiative in Eurasia”

Session Two: Japan-Central Asian Relations in the Global and Regional Contexts

Akihiro Iwashita (Hokkaido University)
“The Shanghai Cooperation Organization: Power Balance or Border Dynamics?”

Erica Marat (Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program)
“Japan’s Role in Kyrgyzstan’s Political and Economic Development since Independence”

Tomohiko Uyama (Hokkaido University)
“Japan’s Diplomacy towards Central Asia in the Context of Japan’s Asian Diplomacy and Japan-US Relations”

Discussant: Timur Dadabaev (Tsukuba University)

Session Three: Economic Aspects of Japan-Central Asian Relations

Niklas Swanstrom (Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program)
”Economic Integration As a Tool for Conflict Management and Confidence Building in Central Asia”

Kuniko Shimao (York St. John University)
“The Political and Economic Relationships between Japan and West and Central Asian Countries with Reference to the Development of Energy and Natural Resources”

Discussant: Tadashi Sugimoto (Euro-Asian Research Institute)