2022 World Affairs Council of the Year
Network of Independent World Affairs Councils of America

Event | TOMORROW |U.S.-Japan Relations with Japan Consul-General Kinefuchi

YOU ARE INVITED
Clipart - Register Now Button

The Tennessee World Affairs Council & Belmont University, Interdisciplinary Studies & Global Education in Association with the Japan-America Society of Tennessee

tnwac-jast-belmont1

invite you to a public affairs event on the topic

U.S. -Japan Security Cooperation with

Consul General Masami Kinefuchi

cg-kinefuchi-en

and

Dr. James Auer

auer

An Evening Town Hall Public Affairs Program

Wedgewood Academic Center

4th Floor Conference Room

Belmont University

1900 Belmont Blvd. Nashville, TN 37212

Free | Open to the Public

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

5:30 p.m. Registration / Networking

6:00-7:30 p.m. Program

US-Japan Relations: An Enduring Security Partnership Faces New Challenges

us-japan-flags-marines

Clipart - Register Now Button

Donation-Button

Seating Limited | Registration Required

Donation to TN World Affairs Council Suggested

US-Japan Relations: An Enduring Security Partnership Faces New Challenges

Background

The importance of that relationship to the United States was summarized in a Council on Foreign Relations Backgrounder briefing:

Forged in the wake of World War II, the U.S.-Japan security alliance has served as one of the region’s most important military relationships and as an anchor of the U.S. security role in Asia.

Revised in 1960, the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security grants the United States the right to military bases on the archipelago in exchange for a U.S. pledge to defend Japan in the event of an attack.

The partnership has endured several geopolitical transitions, rooting its framework in the postwar security environment and expanding in the aftermath of the Cold War with the rise of China and a nuclearizing North Korea. Cooperation during the Gulf and Iraq wars and the March 2011 Tohoku earthquake reaffirmed the strength of the alliance, but challenges remain.

The U.S. military presence on Okinawa, North Korea’s nuclearization, territorial disputes with China, and Japan’s recent push to upgrade its defense preparedness have all challenged the alliance’s resilience as the Obama administration considers the direction of its strategic pivot to the Asia-Pacific region.

Source: Council on Foreign Relations

DIRECTIONS: The Belmont University Wedgewood Academic Center is on the corner of Wedgewood Avenue and 15th Ave. South. Parking in the basement is available. Turn in off either Wedgwood Avenue or 15th Avenue South. Campus Map. Parking P1/P2. Building #8.

Consul-General Masami Kinefuchi

cg-kinefuchi-en“I received my official appointment as Consul-General of Japan in Nashville on April 1, 2015 and arrived to assume my duty on April 28.

Since beginning my career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan in 1983, I have held office in a wide variety of responsibilities, ranging from the Minister’s Secretariat, and those offices of Political affairs, Economic matters, Economic Cooperation, Culture and Information, etc. My recent overseas assignments were Minister and Deputy Chief of the Mission at the Embassy of Japan in Australia and that in Egypt, and most recently in Japan, I served as Assistant Vice-Minister at the Ministry of Justice until March this year. Now that I am charged with being the Consul-General of Japan in Nashville, covering a five-state jurisdiction in the Southeast United States, I am excited with this assignment and feel the great weight of responsibility. Actually it has been a long time since my last appointment to the United States in Washington DC and New York, it is a great pleasure and honor to come back to this wonderful country and I am determined to strive in reinforcing the relationship between Japan and this region.”

Dr. James Auer

 

JAMES E. AUER is the Director of the Auer U.S. – Japan Center on the Vanderbilt University campus. He conducts research and teaches U.S.-Japan relations to Vanderbilt graduate and undergraduate students. He served in the U.S. Navy for 20 years and from 1979 to 1988, served as Special Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Japan affairs.

He graduated from Marquette University and holds a Ph.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. In December 2008 he received the Japanese Government’s “Order of Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon” award presented on behalf of the Emperor of Japan. In December 2015 he was named as the first American recipient of the annual “Sound Opinion Grand Prize” of the major Japanese daily newspaper Sankei Shimbun.

tnwac-jast-belmont1

This public affairs event is part of the Tennessee World Affairs Council’s education programs to generate interest in our community to know more about the world and America’s global challenges. It is provided in association with Belmont University.

Presented by the Tennessee World Affairs Council (TNWAC.org)Belmont University Interdisciplinary Studies and Global Education and the Japan-America Society of Tennessee (JAST).

Corporate sponsorship opportunities are available for TN World Affairs Council distinguished visiting speaker programs – contact PatRyan@TNWAC.org (931-261-2353)

The Tennessee World Affairs Council is a nonprofit (501c3), nonpartisan educational charity based in Nashville that works to build understanding of global issues in our communities. Learn more about the Council and find how you can join, donate and volunteer at: www.TNWAC.org 

 Join / Donate / Volunteer

tnwac logo jan15 300