Join us for a presentation and discussion with Prof. Harukata Takenaka, GRIPS university, and Kenya Amano, Graduate Student in the UW Political Science Department, regarding Japan's response to the pandemic. Moderated by Prof. Robert Pekkanen, UW Japan Studies Program.  In this presentation, Takenaka examines the role of government and its response to the pandemic in Japan, revealing different tools available to leadership. Prime ministers may not have the power necessary to effectively slow or even stop the spread of infection. Alternatively, prefectural governors and health centers have real authority to deal with the contagion and have often been at odds with the directives of prime ministers in dealing with this grave crisis. Although both prime ministers Abe and now Suga succeeded in keeping the number of deaths from Covid 19 at much lower levels than European countries or the US, the Japanese people have not been satisfied with their performances, resulting in issuing of a state of emergency last month.

Harukata Takenaka graduated from the Faculty of Law, University of Tokyo in 1993, and joined the Ministry of Finance, International Finance Bureau, International Organization Division. Completed the doctoral course at the Faculty of Political Science, Stanford University in 1998, Ph.D. (Political Science). Associate Professor at National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in 1999, Professor at the same university since 2010. He recently authored the book Corona crisis politics: Abe administration vs. governors (Published by: Chuokoron-Shinsha 2020, Japanese language). His other books include The Frustration of Democratization in Prewar Japan, Prime Minister's Rule: The Transformation of Japanese Politics, and What is the House of Councilors? (Jiro Osaragi Award). 

Kenya Amano is a PhD student in the Department of Political Science at the University of Washington, studying comparative political economy. His research focuses primarily on the intersections of economic institutions and political regimes, with an emphasis on monetary and fiscal policy, financial regulation, and state responses to financial crisis and pandemics. He is also interested in utilizing data science tools and methods, including causal influence techniques and text as data in political economy research.