Japan’s defence-export reform with Miyagawa Makio and Michishita Narushige

Robert Ward hosts Ambassador Miyagawa Makio, former senior Japanese diplomat, and Professor Michishita Narushige, Professor of International Security Studies at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) and a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, for an in-depth discussion on the recent reform of Japan’s defence-export policy.

Together, they explore:

• The historical background of Japan’s defence-export policy
• The recent shift in Japan’s defence-export policy
• The perspectives of Japan’s US ally and strategic partners on the recent policy shift
• Opportunities and challenges for Japan as a defence equipment and technology exporter

Recommended readings from our guests:

• Agawa Naoyuki, Friendship Across the Seas: The US Navy and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, (Tokyo: Japan Publishing Industry Foundation for Culture, 2019), 308pp.
• Doi Yasuaki, Tainichi Keizai Sensō: 1939–1941 [Economic War against Japan: 1939–1941], (Tokyo: Chuokoron-Shinsha, 2002), 302pp.
• Tobe Ryoichi, Teramoto Yoshinari, Kamata Shinichi, Suginoo Yoshio, Murai Tomohide and Nonaka Ikujiro, Shippai no Honshitsu [The Essence of Failure: An Organisational Study of the Imperial Japanese Military], (Tokyo: Diamond, 1984), 304pp.
• Michishita Narushige, The Maritime Strategy and the US–Japan Alliance: Fighting the Cold War in the Pacific, (Washington DC: Georgetown University Press, forthcoming 2027).

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Date recorded: 23 April 2026

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