Join JASWDC for a Q&A with Tobias Harris moderated by Emma Chanlett-Avery, Specialist in Asian Affairs at the Congressional Research Service.

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Free for JAS Members (with code)

$10 for Non-Members

Participants will receive a 30% off coupon for book orders upon registration.

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Three weeks following the resignation of Japan’s Prime Minister Abe, Japan-America Society of Washington DC will host a discussion with Tobias Harris, author of the recently published The Iconoclast: Shinzo Abe and the New Japan.  The discussion, moderated by JASWDC Board Co-Chair Emma Chanlett-Avery (Specialist in Asian Affairs at the Congressional Research Service), will provide an opportunity to assess the legacy of Shinzo Abe, and to consider that legacy in the context of the first three weeks of the administration of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.
Click here for a link to the publisher’s webpage.

Speakers:

Tobias Harris (Author)

Tobias Harris is a Japanese politics analyst at Teneo Intelligence, the political risk arm of the strategic consultancy Teneo. His first book – THE ICONOCLAST: SHINZŌ ABE AND THE NEW JAPAN – was published in August of 2020.

Prior to joining Teneo, Mr. Harris was an independent analyst of Japanese politics and creator of the blog Observing Japan. In this capacity, he provided running commentary on the Japanese political situation and its effect on foreign and economic policy. He has written articles on Japanese politics for publications including the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, Foreign Policy, and the Far Eastern Economic Review and provided on-air analysis for CNBC, Bloomberg, NHK, and BBC. From 2014-2020, he was Economy, Trade, and Business Fellow at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation USA.

Before working as an analyst, in 2006-2007 Mr. Harris worked on the staff of Keiichiro Asao, at that time a member of the upper house of the Japanese Diet and shadow foreign minister for the Democratic Party of Japan, for whom Mr. Harris conducted research on foreign policy and Japan’s relations with the United States.
Mr. Harris holds an M.Phil in International Relations from the University of Cambridge. He received his bachelor’s degree from Brandeis University. He conducted graduate research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and, from 2011-2012, he was a Fulbright scholar at the Institute for Social Science at the University of Tokyo.

Emma Chanlett-Avery (Moderator)

Emma Chanlett-Avery is a specialist in Asian Affairs at the Congressional Research Service. She focuses on US relations with Japan, the Korean Peninsula, Thailand, and Singapore. Ms. Chanlett-Avery joined CRS in 2003 through the Presidential Management Fellowship, with rotations in the State Department on the Korea Desk and at the Joint US Military Advisory Group in Bangkok, Thailand. She also worked in the Office of Policy Planning as a Harold Rosenthal Fellow.

She is a member of the Mansfield Foundation US–Japan Network for the Future, a board member for the Japan-America Society of Washington, and the 2016 recipient of the Kato Prize. Ms. Chanlett-Avery received an MA in international security policy from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University and her BA in Russian studies from Amherst College. Ms. Chanlett-Avery serves as Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Japan-America Society of Washington DC.

Ryan Shaffer (Host)

Ryan Shaffer joined the Japan America Society of Washington DC as President in February of 2019. He previously served as Director of Programs and Development at the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation, where he oversaw integration of programmatic efforts to advance shared interests in U.S. relations with Japan and other NE Asian Partners. Mr. Shaffer was the founding director of the U.S.-Japan Space Forum and the U.S.-Japan Nuclear Working Group and has produced a variety of publications on the topics. Prior to joining the Mansfield Foundation, Mr. Shaffer served as a research analyst for the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan. Mr. Shaffer, who was raised in Portland, Maine, has an MSc in Asian politics from the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies and a BS in environmental policy from Bates College. Mr. Shaffer, a proud resident of the District of Columbia, sits on the Board of Directors of the National Cherry Blossom Festival. Mr. Shaffer also serves on the Board of Directors of the Western Pacific Fellowship Project.