Japan’s intelligence reforms with Professor Kotani Ken

Robert Ward hosts Professor Kotani Ken, Professor of College of Risk Management at Nihon University, for an in-depth discussion on the recent reforms of Japan’s intelligence capabilities.

Together, they explore:  

• The significance of the recent setting up of Japan’s first National Intelligence Bureau and National Intelligence Council
• Japan’s strengths and weaknesses in intelligence capabilities
• Japan’s further cooperation with foreign intelligence agencies
• Upcoming related intelligence policies and reforms

Recommended readings from our guests:  

• Brad Williams, Japanese Foreign Intelligence and Grand Strategy: From the Cold War to the Abe Era, (Washington DC: Georgetown University Press, 2021), 280pp.

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Date recorded: 31 July 2026

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