Japan’s outer space ambitions with Dr Suzuki Kazuto and Dr Bleddyn Bowen

Yuka Koshino is joined by Dr Suzuki Kazuto, professor of science and technology policy at the Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Tokyo and senior fellow at the Asia Pacific Initiative, and Dr Bleddyn Bowen, lecturer in International Relations at the University of Leicester.

Bleddyn and Kazuto draw from their deep government and academic experience in European and Japanese space policy to shed light on Japan’s role in this increasingly critical and complex domain.

Topics discussed include:

• The uniqueness of space as an emerging strategic domain and its geo-political implications
• The history, drivers and trajectory of Japan’s space policy
• Assessing Japan’s space capabilities and placing them in an international context
• Multilateral cooperation in space and headwinds to Japan’s progress

The following literature is recommended by our guests for a deeper understanding of the topics discussed:

• ‘The EU–Japan Partnership in the Shadow of China: The Crisis of Liberalism’ by Axel Berkofsky, Christopher W. Hughes, Paul Midford, Marie Söderberg
• ‘NASA in the World’ by John Krige
• ‘In Defense of Japan: From the Market to the Military in Space Policy’ by Saadia M. Pekkanen and Paul Kallender-Umezu

We hope you enjoy the episode and please follow, rate, and subscribe to Japan Memo on the podcast platform of your choice.

Date of Recording: 1 March 2022

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

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