Events

MoU Signing Ceremony with Nakasone Peace Institute

On December 6, the Japan office of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Nakasone Peace Institute (NPI) confirming their cooperation in the field of economic security.

The War in Ukraine: Europe's response and implications for the Indo-Pacific

On October 26, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) Japan Office held an experts’ roundtable on “The War in Ukraine: Europe's response and implications for the Indo-Pacific” at the organisation’s Tokyo office. Rabea Brauer, Country Representative, KAS Japan, welcomed the participation of experts from the Centre for Security, Diplomacy and Strategy (CSDS) at the Brussels School of Governance and various Japanese organisations. Key points made by the CSDS speakers concerned the following: • Impact of the Russian aggression against Ukraine from both a Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific perspective and the conflict’s indirect link to both regions through the U.S. military presence; • Evaluation of Japan and Taiwan as partners sharing common values with Europe. Shift by Eastern European states from pro to anti-China following China’s show of support for Russia; • EU’s endeavour to seek tighter and more robust defense cooperation as a part of an effort to secure the strategic autonomy of the bloc; development of stronger defense cooperation between the EU and NATO. The subsequent discussions centered around topics such as future Japan-NATO cooperation in new domains, the prospect of a Taiwan contingency, solidarity amongst like-minded countries, and weapon systems. The whole session was moderated by Michito Tsuruoka, Associate Professor of Keio University.

5th German-Asian Business Dialogue

The Future Of The International Order Is Decided In Asia

German-Asian cooperation possesses abundant potential for maintaining the rules-based international order and keeping global trade routes open – requirements for both regions’ prosperity. Which challenges are governments and businesses in the Indo-Pacific and Germany facing under Covid-19? What lessons have been learned?

Yoshihide Suga wins the LDP leadership Election.

Succeeding PM Shinzo Abe

Yesterday (September 14), Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga enjoyed a land sliding victory, winning 70% of the overall eligible votes for the LDP leadership election. Key messages are: 1. His victory was obvious even before the election as the major factions had expressed their support to him. 2. Fumio Kishida managed to stay in the race for the next year’s full-fledged leadership election. He could only obtain support from a small portion of regional votes. 3. Shigeru Ishiba came last. His popularity among the public is his strong point. However, he lost 16 percentage points from the regional chapters compared to 2018. He could not garner a big support from Diet members outside his faction.

KAS Japan Weekly COVID-19 Updates

4 August

Unemployment rate in June stood at 2.8%. It’s 0.1 percentage point down from May. Is it any good sign? Key messages include: 1. Those who lost their jobs have turned themselves into freelancers, however there’s no assurance that it will last. 2. The ratio of involuntary unemployment is rising. In Japan almost 40% of the workers are non-regular employment. 3. Non-regular workers could be targeted with termination of contracts. The unemployment rate may then become much higher. Watch the video to learn more!

KAS Japan Weekly COVID-19 Updates

21 July

Thirty-five percent of medical institutions would pay less or cut bonus as hospital management is deteriorating due to Covid-19 as people refrain from going to hospitals. Key messages include: A survey by Japan Hospitals Association in May found the profits of about 1,200 hospitals went negative in April. Covid-19 treatment hospitals were more severely hit. Their revenues plummeted. The Government of Japan must support the hospitals to avoid their services going out, which is widely shared across the political spectrum.

KAS Japan Weekly COVID-19 Updates

30 June

Tokyo’s population reached 14 million as of May 1. But the rise in April went down compared to the previous months. Covid-19 is nudging people in big cities to consider their place to live. Key messages are: Covid-19 changed people’s perception on living in big cities, as a new risk. Some people have moved or consider moving out of big cities. Companies will be the key in allowing their employees to live wherever they wish under a condition of working from home. Watch the video to learn more!

KAS Japan Weekly COVID-19 Updates

12 May 2020

GOJ extended the state of emergency to the end of May. As the Golden Week (Japanese national holidays in early May) ended, discussions on exit strategy has become active in the politcs. GOJ is likely to remove the state of emergency off from 34 prefectures. The infected cases has fallen to 100 or less in the past days. GOJ's criteria for lifting the state of emergency are: (1) Situations of infected cases in each prefecture (2) Situations of prefectural medical system (3) Function of monitoring system. Nikkei poll found 55% of the respondents were not in favor of GOJ's measures to Covid-19, 11 percentage points down from the previous one.

How did Germany overcome the financial crisis and why has Europe remained an economically strong continent?

Warum ist Europa nach wie vor ein wirtschaftlich starker Kontinent

KAS | Beijing and the Social and Economic Governance Programme Asia organised a lecture with Dr Michael Fuchs, MdB, which addressed the current economic situation of Europe and Germany in the context of the financial crisis.