Thursday 4 November – Wednesday 16 March 2011
Japan and the Commonwealth of Nations
Drinks reception from 8:30pm
Daiwa Foundation Japan House
Organised by the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation in association with the White Rose East Asia Centre (WREAC)
This seminar marked the publication of a special issue of ‘The Round Table’, the Commonwealth’s ‘Journal of International’ Affairs. Edited by Dr Kweku Ampiah, it charts Japan’s relations with Australia, India, the United Kingdom, sub-Saharan Africa and South East Asia. Starting with an account of post-war Anglo-Japanese relations, the five ‘Round Table’ articles in this volume cover thematic and geographic issues, exploring matters of diplomacy, regional security, international trade, and economic development. In the context of multilateralist debates, the speakers will assess how Japan’s post-war engagements have affected and influenced relationships within the Commonwealth. In doing so, they will consider how relevant the Commonwealth may be, as a multilateral organisation, to Japan’s international relations and world-view.
About the contributors
Dr Kweku Ampiah
Dr Kweku Ampiah is a lecturer in Japanese Studies in the Department of East Asian Studies, University of Leeds. His research interests include Japan and China’s Relations with Africa, Post-War Japanese Diplomacy and International Relations and International Political Economy. He has published widely in these fields including two books, ‘The Political and Moral Imperatives of the Bandung Conference of 1955’ (Global Oriental Ltd, 2007) and ‘The Dynamics of Japan’s Relations with Africa: South Africa, Tanzania and Nigeria’ (Routledge; 1 edition 1997).
Professor C.W. Braddick
Professor C.W. Braddick is an independent scholar. He graduated from the Universities of Wales (Aberystwyth) and London (SOAS/LSE), before receiving his doctorate in International Relations from St. Antony’s College, Oxford in 1998. He was Professor of International Political History at Musashi University, Tokyo (1989-2006) and a Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University, Canberra (2001-2009). In addition, he has served as the Senior North Asia Specialist to the Australian Federal Parliament, as a member of the Anglo-Japanese History Project and the Editorial Advisory Board for the Cold War Encyclopaedia Project. His publications include: ‘Britain, the Commonwealth, and the Post-war Japanese Revival, 1945–70’, ‘The Round Table’ (2010); ‘Japan, Australia, and ASPAC: the Rise and Fall of an Asia-Pacific Cooperative Security Framework’, in Japan, ‘Australia and Asia-Pacific Security’ (Routledge; 1 edition 2006); ‘Japan and the Sino-Soviet Alliance, 1950-1964’ (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003), and ‘Distant Friends: Britain and Japan since 1958—the Age of Globalization’, in ‘The History of Anglo-Japanese Relations, 1600–2000’ (2000).
Professor J A A Stockwin
Professor J A A Stockwin (Chair) is Emeritus Fellow of St. Antony’s College and the Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies, University of Oxford. His recent publications include: ‘Dictionary of the Modern Politics of Japan’ (2003) and ‘Collected Writings of J.A.A. Stockwin’ (2004). Professor Stockwin is General Editor of the ‘Nissan Institute/Routledge Japanese Studies’ series. In 2004, he received The Order of the Rising Sun from the Japanese Government in recognition of his tireless efforts to promote Japanese Studies in the UK.