In Conversation

The Japanese Post Covid Political Sphere

CEO Professor Gordon Flake interviews Sheila Smith, Senior Fellow of Japan Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, about her latest book Japan Rearmed, what the Japanese post-COVID political sphere looks like, and her hopes for America’s presidential election.

About Sheila Smith

Sheila A. Smith is the John E. Merow Senior Fellow for Asia-Pacific Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), where she focuses on Japanese politics, foreign policy, and security issues. She is the author of several influential books, including Japan Rearmed: The Politics of Military Power (Harvard University Press, 2019), Intimate Rivals: Japanese Domestic Politics and a Rising China (Columbia University Press, 2015), and Japan’s New Politics and the U.S.-Japan Alliance (CFR, 2014). She also developed the interactive guide Constitutional Change in Japan for CFR.