The Japan Society

Upcoming Events

ARCHIVED Japan, UK and the US: Our Relationship with our Closest Allies with Kim Darroch and Kenichiro Sasae

Thursday 25 June 2020 / 11:00am
Japan, UK and the US: Our Relationship with our Closest Allies with Kim Darroch and Kenichiro Sasae

Date
Thursday 25 June 2020
Time
11.00am to 12.00 noon (BST)

Booking Details
Free – Donations Welcome
Registration essential

Please note that this event will be held under the Chatham House Rule and that no recording will be subsequently available.

Book online here

The activities of the Japan Society are made possible thanks to the support of its members. This event is free of charge and open to all. We realise that this is a difficult time for many people. However, if you are planning to attend and do not have a membership subscription as an individual or through your employer, please consider making a donation. You can find details of membership and how to join the Japan Society community here.


We are delighted to welcome Kim Darroch and Kenichiro Sasae, two distinguished diplomats who were recent contemporaries serving as Ambassadors in Washington DC, to join Japan Society Chairman, Bill Emmott in conversation about the United States.

As we watch protests against racial injustice across cities in the US, as the number of confirmed COVID-19 deaths rises to over 110,000, and as the November presidential election approaches, what are the prospects for American politics and its economy, what might this mean for the future of US leadership, and what are the implications for US relations with Japan and the UK?

Developments in the US have formed an important backdrop for many of the topics already discussed in this webinar series, including the future of international co-operation, attitudes to China, energy and climate change, the prospects for trade negotiations, and many others raised by members of the Japan Society in questions.

Kim Darroch, Baron Darroch of Kew, served as British Ambassador to the USA from 2016 – 2019, at the end of a 40 year diplomatic career which had focussed on national security issues and European Union policy. Previous roles included the Prime Minister’s National Security Advisor (2012 – 2015), UK Permanent Representative to the EU (2007 – 2011) EU Advisor to the Prime Minister and Head of the Cabinet Office European Secretariat (2004 – 2007). His first overseas posting was to the British Embassy in Tokyo (1980 – 1984).

Kenichiro Sasae is President of The Japan Institute of International Affairs. During his 44-year career with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Sasae served as Japan’s ambassador to the U.S. from 2012  - 2018, as Vice Minister (2010 – 2012), as Director-General of the Economic Affairs and Asian and Oceania Affairs Bureaus, and as Executive Assistant to the Prime Minister for Foreign Affairs, among other senior positions. He also served as Japan’s representative to the six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear programme. Earlier in his career, he was in charge of US trade issues in the 1980s as director of the Second North America Division, and spent time in London attached to the International Institute for Strategic Studies.