Japan’s quiet leadership: Reshaping the Indo-Pacific

Wednesday, September 6, 2023, 9:30 – 10:30 a.m. EDT
The Brookings Institution, Falk Auditorium, 1775 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Washington, D.C.

Over the past three decades, Japan has battled persistent economic stagnation, reckoned with depopulation, rising inequality, voter disengagement, and endured threats to Asia’s long peace. Remarkably, Japan has emerged from its “lost decades” unscathed from the populist wave that today permeates several major democracies and as a far more consequential actor in the geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific. The country has reinvented itself as a network power to overcome the harsh realities of diminishing relative capabilities. How has Japan accomplished this reinvention? What lessons can be learned from how it has coped with slow growth, adverse demographics, adjustment to economic globalization, and the emergence of a powerful and assertive China? And how can Japan handle the hurdles ahead? 

To address these and other questions, Mireya Solís has authored a new book, “Japan’s Quiet Leadership: Reshaping the Indo-Pacific,” to be released in early September.

On September 6, the Center for East Asia Policy Studies will host Solís to discuss key findings from her book and a panel of experts to evaluate Japan’s evolving role and its impact on the Indo-Pacific region. 

Registration is required to attend an event in person and guests at Brookings are required to attest to their state of health before attending. Visitors may not enter the building if they are feeling ill for any reason, have any symptoms commonly associated with COVID-19, or have tested positive for COVID-19 at any time in the preceding 14 days.
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