On 24 January, I was invited to participate in "Japan in 2020," the latest iteration of an annual event hosted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and sponsored by the Japan America Society of Washington.Now, little more than two months later, this discussion - on a domestic politics panel with CFR's Sheila Smith and …
Author: Tobias S. Harris
Tobias Harris is Japan analyst at Teneo Intelligence. He is the author of a forthcoming biography of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Recent comments on Covid-19
For the past two months, my analytical coverage for Teneo Intelligence has been exclusively focused on the Covid-19 outbreak in Japan and the Koreas. Comments, often drawn from my research notes, have appeared in the following news articles: Motoko Rich and Ben Dooley, "What to Call 2021 Olympics? Just One of Many Challenges for Japan," …
My Year in Reading, 2019
Inspired by the “A Year in Reading” essays published by The Millions, I have written by own “Year in Reading.” Having spent most of 2019 writing my forthcoming biography of Abe Shinzō, I spent a significant portion of my year reading books in Japanese and English on Abe, Japanese politics, and East Asia. To my …
“China’s Rise and the U.S.-Japan Alliance” at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs (11/4/19)
I was invited to participate in a panel at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs on 4 November 2019, where I was able to engage in a lively discussion with Professor Kawashima Shina from Tokyo University, Carnegie's Evan Feigenbaum, and Dina Smeltz from the Chicago Council. https://youtu.be/A9CC3ZO8auQ?t=4252 The symposium also featured excellent commentary from Kato …
Upper House elections commentary
I was quoted in several articles on Japan's 21 July 2019 upper house elections: Sophie Jackman and Isabel Reynolds, "Japan's Abe Falls Short of Supermajority in Election Win," Bloomberg, 21 July 2019AFP, "Japan's Abe keeps upper house grip but no 'supermajority'"Grace Shao, "After elections, Japan’s leader Abe will be seeking a big win on trade," …
“Japan’s Upper House Election Results,” Sasakawa USA
On Monday, 22 July 2019, Washington College's Andrew Oros and I discussed the outcome of the upper house elections held the previous day, speaking to - much to my surprise - a packed room. Photo courtesy of Ben Self Our discussion dissected the significance of the results for Prime Minister Abe, Japan's political parties, and …
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On Japan-China relations in the SCMP
I was quoted extensively in an article by Karen Yeung in the South China Morning Post. However, if Japan begins to cooperate with the initiative and is able to influence the quality of investments and reduce funding risks, China could potentially allay such criticism, according to Tobias Harris, senior vice-president at global CEO consulting and …
“Japan’s post-populist democracy”
I wrote an essay on the meaning of Japan's 21 July House of Councillors elections for East Asia Forum. You can read it here.
Can Japan be cured? A review of Murakami Ryu’s ‘From The Fatherland, With Love’
Note: I originally wrote this review in 2013 for submission to the London Review of Books. The LRB passed, and it has sat orphaned on my hard drive. I figured I should probably put it here. A review of From The Fatherland, With Love by Ryu Murakami Translated from the Japanese by Ralph McCarthy, Charles de …
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Japan’s Upper House Elections: A Question of Stability
Japan’s party leaders have argued that voters face a stark choice in the July 10 election for the Diet’s upper house. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has warned that the opposition wants to undo Abenomics and bring Japan back to economic stagnation; Katsuya Okada, leader of the opposition Democratic Party (DP) has called upon voters to …
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