ARCHIVED WEBINAR - COVID-19: The Political Repercussions of the Pandemic with Tsutomu Ishiai and John Peet

Date
Thursday 30 April 2020
Time
11.00am to 12.00 noon (BST)

Booking Details
Japan Society Members - Free
Non-members - £20
Booking deadline: Thursday 30 April – 10.00am (BST) 

For the fourth in our webinar series, Japan Society chairman, Bill Emmott, will be joined in discussion by Tsutomu Ishiai, Deputy Managing Editor, Asahi Shimbun and John Peet, Political and Brexit Editor, The Economist.

At the end of April, four months since reports began to reach us of a new coronavirus emerging in Wuhan, and with ‘normal’ life beginning to feel like a distant memory, commentators are focussing increasingly on the differing responses by national governments in handling the crisis.

How has management of the pandemic changed perceptions of the Johnson and Abe administrations? What are the impacts on domestic politics, the roles of opposition parties and government bureaucracies? In the UK, questions are being raised about the implementation of Brexit and in Japan, a spotlight is being shone on relations with its continental neighbours.

Our guests for this discussion are particularly well placed to provide insights and observations on the political situation in the UK and Japan.

Tsutomu Ishiai is Deputy Managing Editor, Asahi Shimbun. Prior to this he was London Bureau Chief and European Editor. He has previously worked as the paper’s foreign editor and Cairo Bureau Chief.  

John Peet is The Economist‘s political and Brexit editor. Prior to this position, John was Europe editor covering European affairs. He was previously business affairs editor, responsible for the business, finance and economics and science & technology coverage of the paper. Prior to this, he was Brussels correspondent, executive editor, surveys editor, finance correspondent, Washington DC correspondent and Britain correspondent.

Before joining The Economist John was a civil servant, working for the Treasury and the Foreign Office from 1976 to 1986. He is the co-author of “Unhappy Union: How the Euro Crisis – and Europe – Can Be Fixed”, published by Profile Books May 2014.