Japan and Australia with Professor Satake Tomohiko and Genna Lehman

Robert Ward hosts Satake Tomohiko, Professor at the School of International Politics, Economics and Communication (SIPEC) at Aoyama Gakuin University, and Genna Lehman, non-resident fellow at the United States Studies Centre’s Economic Security Programme in Sydney, about Japan-Australia relations.  

Together, they explore:

• The evolution of Middle Power cooperation between Japan and Australia
• The growing cooperation in defence industry between Japan and Australia
• Japan’s recent successful rare-earth project with Australia’s Lynas
• Future Japan-Australia cooperation

Recommended readings from our guests:  

• Yoshihide Soeya, Masayuki Tadokoro, and David A. Welch. (Eds.). Japan as a 'Normal Country'?: A Nation in Search of Its Place in the World (Toronto: University of Tront Press, 2011).
• Michael Green,Line of Advantage: Japan’s Grand Strategy in the Era of Abe Shinzō. (New York: Columbia University Press, 2022).

We hope you enjoy the episode. Please follow, rate, and subscribe to Japan Memo on your preferred podcast platform. If you have any comments or questions, please contact us at japanchair@iiss.org.

Date recorded: 13 August 2026

Japan Memo is recorded and produced at the IISS in London.

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