Central Bank Digital Currencies from a Japanese Legal Perspective (Professor Takashi Kubota)

In this episode, Professor Takashi Kubota (Waseda Law School) sits down to chat with MC Assistant Professor Robert Fahey (Waseda Institute for Advanced Study) about the potential of Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) in Japan using international comparisons. He shares his expert knowledge of the Japanese legal system, highlighting the aspects that obligate Japan’s government to communicate with the public on financial matters, and yet notes how low awareness of CBDC remains a significant obstacle to its introduction. Professor Kubota also weighs in on the question of whether CBDC, or digital currency in general, may potentially replace fiat currency in the future.

Link to transcript: https://www.waseda.jp/top/en/news/82942

About the guests: Professor Takashi Kubota

Professor Kubota has been teaching at the Waseda Law School since 2004. Prior to that, he worked for eight years at the Bank of Japan and taught as an associate professor at Nagoya University. Professor Kubota has served as an advisor to the government of Japan through his positions on a number of committees, including the Strategic Committee on International Promotion of Japanese Law and the Japanese Law Translation Committee. 
Professor Kubota was educated at the University of Tokyo (LL.B. in 1990, LL.M. in 1993), Harvard Law School (LL.M. in 1996) and Osaka National University, where he received a Ph. D. in International Public Policy in 2003. His research interests include international finance, international business law, cyber law, and negotiation.

MC Assistant Professor Robert Fahey

Dr. Robert A. Fahey is an assistant professor of political science at the Waseda Institute for Advanced Study in Tokyo, Japan. His research interests include populism, polarisation, the effects of conspiracy theory belief, and Japanese politics. He is currently working on a series of large-scale surveys aimed at discovering what kinds of conspiracy beliefs are widespread in East Asian countries, and how those beliefs impact the political and social life of those nations.