Dear Colleagues,

 

I am the organizer for the 2025 European Japan Advanced Research Network (EJARN)'s annual conference, which will be held at Meiji Gakuin University's Shirokane campus on Saturday and Sunday June 14-15^th. EJARN is a policy-research network of (mostly) European based Japanologists that promotes policy relevant research on EU-Japan relations, and Japanese politics, economics, and society.

 

You are invited respond to this call for papers. Although this year's theme focuses on the nexus of European and Japanese security, I want to emphasize that paper proposals related to Japanese politics (including foreign relations, ODA etc.) economics, and society that have some contemporary policy relevance are also very welcome. Proposals are due by the end of February; the conference will be conducted in English. Please see the formal call for papers below.

 

Sincerely,

 

Paul Midford

 

Call for Papers

The Tightening Nexus of Security Between Japan and Europe

European-Japan Advanced Research Network (EJARN) 2025 Conference

June 14-15

For more on EJARN, see: https://www.hhs.se/en/research/institutes/eijs/

Location: Shirokane Campus, Meiji Gakuin University, Tokyo

Conference Organizers: Paul Midford, Meiji Gakuin University, Patrik Ström, European Institute of Japanese Studies, Stockholm School of Economics, Wilhelm Vosse, International Christian University

We welcome policy-relevant paper applications related to any aspect of EU-Japan relations, and Japan's contemporary politics, economics, and society. We especially welcome papers related to this year's conference theme.

How to Submit: Email a 100-200 word abstract to: paulmid@k.meijigakuin.ac.jp

Be sure to include "EJARN Conference Paper Proposal" in the subject line

Deadline for Applying: February 28, 2025

Decisions on Applications: @April 1, 2025

Conference Theme

While Europe and Japan have long mattered for each others' security, the stake each had in the security of the other was long obscured by geographic distance and a lack of attention by policy makers. Nonetheless, over the past seven years the situation has changed dramatically. In 2018 the two sides concluded the EU-Japan Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA), the first binding political and security agreement between the two sides that mandates cooperation in these areas. In early November 2024, the two sides went a step further by concluding an EU-Japan defense and partnership agreement. This is the first security partnership agreement the EU has concluded with any Indo-Pacific country. This makes this year's focus on the tightening nexus of security between Japan and Europe exceptionally timely, and we will be among the first to analyze the implications and prospects of this new agreement.  

Behind this new agreement lays two developments. First, is the worsening security environment in both Europe and the Indo-Pacific, especially in Northeast Asia. Second, European and Japanese security are becoming increasingly linked and interdependent. One of the most notable examples of increasing security interdependence is Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine since February 2022. Another consequence of the Ukraine war has been Russia's growing alignment with China and North Korea, a development that is having a negative impact on both European and Japanese security.

Security interdependence between Europe and Japan is also growing in dimensions where geographical distance is not a significant factor. For the first time Japan has committed to co-developing its next generation combat aircraft not with the US, but with a European consortium consisting of the Italy and the UK. Space defense and cyber security are other areas where the new agreement pledges closer cooperation, and where geographic distance hardly matters. Related to cyber security, the two sides also pledged to cooperate to respond to hybrid threats such as Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI) and are exploring the possibility of a bilateral agreement on the security of information. 

Reflecting the comprehensive conception of security shared by the EU and Japan, the two sides are also strengthening their cooperation to ensure economic and environmental security, both domestically and in developing economies where they are significant donors. In view of China's emerging dominance in many green technologies, the EU and Japan also have a common interest in cooperating to ensure their continued relevance and competitiveness in related technologies and industries.

With US leadership very much in doubt, at least in the short-term during the Trump administration, the EU and Japan have a strong incentive to coordinate their responses during this period of uncertainty, deepen the nexus of security between them and to try to maintain the liberal order.