Robert Ward hosts Ogi Hirohito, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Geoeconomics; Ito Ayano, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of ITO Strategy Company; and Tom Corben, Research Fellow at the United States Studies Centre. They discuss the increasing cooperation between Japan and the US in the defence industry.

Together, they explore: 

· How Takaichi and Trump might cooperate on US-Japan defence-industrial issues

· The Takaichi government’s new policies in relation to the defence industry

· How the defence industry in Japan and the US views recent defence-industrial policy changes

· Defence-industrial cooperation with third countries, through initiatives such as GCAP

· How the US views defence-industrial cooperation with Japan and the effect of the upcoming US National Security Strategy on this

Recommended materials from our guests: 

· Alan Booth, The Roads to Sata,(London: Penguin, 2020), 336pp.

· Tobias S Harris, The Iconoclast, (London: Hurst, 2023), 504pp.

· Anno Hideki and Higuchi Shinji, Shin Gozilla, (Toho Co, 2016).

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: 4 November 2025

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

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