WATCH: A “New Golden Age” in U.S.-Japan Relations?
A “New Golden Age” in U.S.-Japan Relations?
Moderated by Susan A. Thornton
Hybrid Program
Monday, March 31, 2025
The U.S.-Japan alliance remains a pillar of peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region and one of President Trump’s first invitations was for a Washington summit with Prime Minister Ishiba. The two declared a “New Golden Age” of U.S.-Japan relations. Yet, it seems clear that the alliance will need to confront tectonic changes in global security architecture, trade disputes and shifting international norms and institutions in the coming years. Amid an increasingly fractured geopolitical environment, how is one of the U.S.’s closest allies viewing developments? How should the U.S. and Japan be working to meet security challenges in the Indo-Pacific region and instability in the international system?
Watch the discussion with prominent experts Ken Jimbo and Christopher Johnstone as they explore the implications of the alliance under new leadership, discuss challenges and opportunities to strengthen cooperation on security and defense, investment in critical emerging technologies, and geopolitical challenges.
This discussion was moderated by the Director of the Forum on Asia Pacific Security, Susan A. Thornton.
Recorded by Really Useful Media
https://usefulmedia.net/
Speaker Bios
Ken JIMBO is Professor at the Faculty of Policy Management, Keio University. He served as a Special Advisor to the Minister of Defense, Japan Ministry of Defense (2020) and a Senior Advisor, The National Security Secretariat (2018-20).
His main research fields are in International Security, Japan-US Security Relations, Japanese Foreign and Defense Policy, Multilateral Security in Asia-Pacific, and Regionalism in East Asia. He has been a policy advisor for various Japanese governmental commissions and research groups including for the National Security Secretariat, the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. His policy writings have appeared in NBR, The RAND Corporation, Stimson Center, Pacific Forum CSIS, Japan Times, Nikkei, Yomiuri, Asahi and Sankei Shimbun
Christopher B. JOHNSTONE is Partner and Chair of the Defense & National Security Practice at The Asia Group, where he brings unparalleled expertise across Indo-Pacific markets including Japan, Taiwan, Australia, and Southeast Asia. Previously, Chris served as a Senior Advisor at TAG and concurrently as Senior Advisor and Japan Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). At CSIS, Chris led and expanded the Center’s role in shaping the U.S.- Japan alliance agenda, including on economic security, defense industrial cooperation, and multilateral frameworks.
Chris served in government for 25 years in a variety of senior positions with a focus on U.S. alliances in the Indo-Pacific region. He served twice on the National Security Council, as Director for East Asia under President Biden (2021-2022) and Director for Japan and Oceanian Affairs under President Obama (2014–2016). In the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Chris led offices with responsibility for South and Southeast Asia (2017–2021) and East Asia (2016–2017). Prior to those roles, he served as Director for Northeast Asia (2010-2014), where he had principal responsibility for developing strategy for the U.S.-Japan and U.S.-South Korea alliances.
Chris began his career as an intelligence officer in the Central Intelligence Agency, where he served as the senior political analyst at an East Asian field station, then as a team chief in the Office of Asia Pacific Analysis. He is a member of the board of trustees of the Japan-America Society of Washington, D.C., and the recipient of the Ryozo Kato Award for Service to the U.S.-Japan Alliance.
Chris holds a Master of Public Affairs from Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs and a Bachelor of Arts from Swarthmore College. He attended Stanford University’s Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies in Yokohama, Japan. He speaks and reads Japanese.
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