Mansfield Foundation Podcast

Our guest is Doctor Paul Christensen, Associate Professor of Anthropology at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. We discuss his work studying issues in contemporary Japan, including recovery from substance use. We also consider how Japanese policymaking can better incorporate the needs of its people.

Our guest on the Mansfield Podcast is Doctor Lauren McKee, Associate Professor of Political Science at Berea College. Lauren talks about ways to grow Japan studies, both at her institution and across America. We also discuss Japan’s electoral system and the connections between the U.S. and Japan.

Our guest on the Mansfield Podcast is Dr. Tom Mason, Executive Director of the U.S.-Japan Bridging Foundation.

Our guest on the Mansfield Podcast is Dr. Cindi SturtzSreetharan, Professor of Anthropology at Arizona State University. Dr. SturtzSreetharan joins us to talk about her path in Japan Studies, as well as her research on language, identity, and stigma in Japan.

Our guest on the Mansfield Podcast is Dr. Charles McClean, incoming Associate Professor of Political Science at Yale University.

Our guest on the Mansfield Podcast is Mihoko Matsubara, Chief Cybersecurity Strategist at NTT Corporation.

Today on the Mansfield Podcast, we’re joined by Kazuyo Kato, Executive Director of the Japan Center for International Exchange USA. She is a member of the fifth cohort of the U.S.-Japan Network for the Future here at Mansfield, and has spent more than two decades at nonprofit organizations dedicated to U.S.-Japan relations and international affairs.

In 2023, we spoke about the work of JCIE and specifically how Japan is playing an increasingly larger role in global health.

Ms. Kato's commentary on Japan's leadership at the Tokyo International Conference on International Development is available at https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2022/08/29/commentary/japan-commentary/japan-ticad-pledge/

Today on the Mansfield podcast, we’re joined by Dr. Akira Inayoshi, Professor Japanese Political and Diplomatic History at Niigata University.

Dr. Inayoshi studies how Japan’s policies are influenced by regional preferences and the role of infrastructure in migration.

Books mentioned in this interview include Dr. Inayoshi's 港町巡礼 (Port Town Pilgrimage), in Japanese: https://www.kinokuniya.co.jp/f/dsg-01-9784910590073

John Darwin's Unlocking the World: Port Cities and Globalization in the age of Steam (https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/130909/unlocking-the-world-by-darwin-john/9781846140877)

And Empires on the Waterfront: Japan's Ports and Power, 1858-1899 by Catherine L. Phipps (https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674417168)

This season, we will be speaking with a dozen experts, academics, and practitioners in the field of Japan Studies. We’ll be looking at their work, as well as the professional experiences that have shaped their career paths.

These individuals all participated in the fifth cohort of the U.S.-Japan Network for the Future Program here at Mansfield.

This season of the Manfield Podcast is made possible with support from the Japan Foundation. Special thanks to Nick Velez for editing support. Music is courtesy of Laura Schwartz and Bellwether Bayou.

Anna Nagamine of the OIST Innovation Team at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology joins us to discuss her work, the challenges facing entrepreneurship and startups in Japan and Okinawa in particular.

Anna's opinion piece, "Okinawa in Position to be Asia’s Next Hotbed for Innovation,” is available at https://mansfieldfdn.org/wp-content/uploads/Nagamine_op-ed.pdf