The U.S.-Japan relationship is at one of its post-World War II high-water marks. Last year’s update of the Bilateral Defense Guidelines, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s successful address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress, the Diet’s passage of legislation to allow greater military cooperation with the United States in some circumstances, and the signing of the Trans-Pacific Partnership were all historic steps forward.

However, as in any complex relationship between major countries, there are potential points of difference. Part of our mission at Sasakawa USA is to identify these differences and help find ways to address them. Russia presents a fascinating opportunity to do just that.

Last year, in partnership with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Sasakawa USA convened a conference to explore the triangular relationship among the United States, Japan, and Russia. Economic and security experts, along with experienced diplomats from all three countries, discussed the history of key issues and the prospects for progress.

On May 24, Sasakawa USA held a discussion on Japan-Russia Relations: Implications for the U.S.-Japan Alliance, a new volume edited by Dr. Gilbert Rozman, based in part on that conference. It describes an underdeveloped Japan-Russia economic relationship, a series of ingenious but unsuccessful diplomatic and cartographic attempts to divide the Northern Territories in a way that both countries could claim as a win, and very subtle signaling by Russia and Japan that their concerns about China may present a margin for better relations with one another.

This book was officially released to the public on May 6, at Sasakawa USA’s Third Annual Security Forum: American and Japanese Interests and the Future of the Alliance.

Click here to access an online version of the book.

Speakers

• Daniel Bob, Senior Fellow and Director of Programs, Sasakawa USA
• Eugene Rumer, Director and Senior Associate for the Russia and Eurasia Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
• James L. Schoff, Senior Associate, Asia Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
• Gilbert Rozman, Editor-in-chief, The Asan Forum; Emeritus Musgrave Professor of Sociology, Princeton University

Photos