日米原子力ワーキンググループ　公開セミナー

“日本の原子力エネルギーの新たな標準：

ポスト福島の日米原子力における優先事項とは”

２０１２年５月２４日（木）午後４時３０分―午後７時

港区赤坂１－２－２日本財団ビル２階　大会議室

（参加費無料、日英同時通訳付）

日本と米国は、グローバル・セキュリティー、核不拡散、エネルギー安全保障、規制スタンダード、商業上の機会などの面において互いの国益を共有しており、原子力問題についてもこれまで協力を密にしてきました。しかしながら、福島第一原子力発電所の大事故後、日本のエネルギー政策論争では、政治家や一般国民の焦点は直近の懸念事項に当てられ、日米の戦略的な原子力協力という長期的視点には、ほとんど目が向けられていません。

モーリーン・アンド・マイク・マンスフィールド財団は、米国科学者連盟、笹川平和財団とともに、バランスのとれた二国間フォーラムである「日米原子力ワーキンググループ」を発足させ、福島第一原子力発電所の惨事を受けた上で、原子力関連の日米の国益について議論を行います。当該ワーキンググループは４回実施する会合での議論を通じ、福島の惨事が提示した日米の共有利益へのチャレンジ、二国間協力の強化に向けた可能性を見出します。

このたび日米原子力ワーキンググループの第２回会合を東京で実施し、この機に公開セミナーを開催いたします。ポスト福島の日本のエネルギー戦略をめぐる政策論議における各自の見解を示し、また会場の皆様からのご質問にもお答えし、議論を更に深めます。

参加のお申し込みはtokyoadmin@mansfieldfdn.org宛てに、御氏名（日・英）、御所属（日・英）、連絡先御電話番号、メールアドレスを記入の上、５月２１日までにご登録ください（先着順。定員になり次第、締め切らせていただきます）。多くの皆様の御参加をお待ちいたしております。

4:30 – 4:50 p.m.        開会の挨拶・プロジェクト概要

• L・ゴードン・フレイク　モーリーン・アンド・マイク・マンスフィールド財団所長
• 茶野順子　公益財団法人笹川平和財団　常務理事

4:50 – 6:15 p.m.        パネルディスカッション：ワーキンググループメンバーからの見解

モデレーター：チャールズ・ファーグソン　米国科学者連盟　会長

• 秋山信将　一橋大学大学院法学研究科准教授、日本国際問題研究所（ＪＩＩＡ）客員

研究員

• 太田昌克　共同通信　編集委員（予定）
• トマス・サンダース　サバンナリバー国立研究所　クリーンエネルギー・イニシアティブ　アソシエイト・ラボラトリ・ディレクター、前米国原子力学会理事長
• シャロン・スクアソーニ　米国戦略国際問題研究所（CSIS）核不拡散プログラム・デ

レクター

• 田中伸男　前国際エネルギー機関（IEA）事務局長

6:15 – 7:00 p.m.        質疑応答

PDFはこちらへ。

U.S.-Japan Nuclear Working Group

“New Normal for Nuclear Energy in Japan:
Post-Fukushima Implications for Japan-U.S. Nuclear Priorities”

Thursday, May 24, 2012

4:30 p.m.-7:00 p.m.

2^nd Floor Conference Hall A-B, Nippon Foundation Building, 1-2-2 Akasaka

Japan and the U.S. have historically enjoyed close cooperation on nuclear issues that reflect shared national interests in areas such as global security and nonproliferation, energy security, regulatory standards, and commercial opportunities. In the aftermath of the tragic accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, however, popular and political attention has focused on near-term concerns amidst a vigorous and ideologically charged Japanese energy policy debate. Long-term strategic interests at the center of Japan–U.S. nuclear collaboration have received less attention.

The Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation, in collaboration with the Federation of American Scientists and the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, has convened the U.S.-Japan Nuclear Working Group, a balanced, bilateral forum for discussing our broader national nuclear-related interests in the context of the Fukushima Daiichi disaster. Over four meetings, this group aims to identify those areas where the disaster has presented challenges to shared Japanese and American interests, and where it has opened the possibility for enhanced bilateral collaboration.

Please join members of the U.S.-Japan Nuclear Working Group as they conclude their second meeting with a public panel discussion at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation in Tokyo. Working Group members will share their reflections on their own work in the context of Japan’s ongoing policy deliberations on a post-Fukushima energy strategy, and they will take questions from the audience in an effort to more fully understand the perspective of the Japanese public.

4:30 – 4:50 p.m.      Welcome/Project Overview

• L. Gordon Flake, Executive Director, The Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation
• Junko Chano, Executive Director, Sasakawa Peace Foundation

4:50 – 6:15 p.m.      Panel Discussion:

Reflections and Working Conclusions from Working Group Members

Moderator: Charles Ferguson, President, Federation of American Scientists

• Nobumasa Akiyama, Associate Professor, Hitotsubashi University & Adjunct Fellow, Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA)
  • Masakatsu Ota, Senior & Editorial Writer, Kyodo News (invited)
• Thomas Sanders, Associate Laboratory Director for Clean Energy Initiatives, Savannah River National Laboratory; Former President, American Nuclear Society
• Sharon Squassoni, Director and Senior Fellow, Proliferation Prevention Program, CSIS
• Nobuo Tanaka, Former Executive Director, International Energy Agency

6:15 – 7:00 p.m.      Public Question and Answer Period

• Admission free; simultaneous translation available
• Please RSVP (with your name, affiliation, phone number) to tokyoadmin@mansfieldfdn.org
• Upon reaching capacity, registration will be closed.

For the printable pdf version, please see here.

A paper written by Matthew Poggi (Mansfield Fellow 2009-2011, U.S. Department of Treasury) and his colleagues at the Bank of Japan during his summer 2011 placement has been published by the central bank. A link to the paper can be found here:

http://www.boj.or.jp/research/brp/ron_2012/ron120426a.htm

The paper’s executive summary, translated by the Mansfield Foundation, follows:

A Business’s Age (Years in Operation) and Stock Prices

Summary:

According to previous research, the longer a business is in operation, the less likely the price of its stock will increase substantially. As a business grows, it gains confidence from management know-how and outside organizations/agencies and as management becomes more stable, the volatility of its stock prices declines. Therefore, a negative correlation should exist between both the length of time a business is in operation and the rate of increase of its stock prices, and between the length of time a business is in operation and the volatility of its stock. With this in mind, as one looks at the Nikkei 225 and S&P 500 from 2000 onwards one can observe that in both Japan and the U.S. the longer a business is in operation, the lower its stock’s volatility becomes. However, in the U.S. the rate of increase in a business’s stock price decreases the longer it is in operation, while in Japan this rate increases the longer a business is in operation. Taking into account the fact that in the U.S. some start-up companies have remarkably high rates of stock price rise, which serves to push up the stock price index as a whole, one can then conclude that one of the primary factors of the Nikkei 225’s relative slump is the low presence of start-up companies in Japan.

Ambassador Mike Mansfield meets with Prime Minister Masayoshi Ohira, February 19, 1979

Months before he was appointed U.S. ambassador to Japan by President Jimmy Carter, Mike Mansfield reported to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that “U.S.-Japan relations are good but they could be better…A new relationship on the basis of equality and mutuality of interests has begun.” (Don Oberdorfer, Senator Mansfield (Washington: Smithsonian, 2003))  Mike Mansfield arrived in Tokyo at a time of reflection on the future direction of the bilateral relationship and with instructions for dealing with several difficult trade and security issues.

Masayoshi Ohira, who served as Japan’s prime minister from 1978 to 1980, was the second of five prime ministers Mike Mansfield dealt with during more than eleven years as U.S. ambassador to Japan.  Despite growing opposition from those who supported measures that would gradually distance Tokyo from Washington’s dominance, Ohira had continued his predecessor Takeo Fukuda’s efforts to further positive cooperation with the U.S. in the security area. Ohira was well known for his negotiating abilities; as Prime Minister Ikeda Hayato’s chief cabinet secretary, he helped stabilize the country after the anti-American sentiment of the late 1950s. During Ohira’s time in the office, Japan boycotted the Olympics game in Moscow to protest Soviet action in Afghanistan and to show Japan’s solidarity with the West.

Following Ohira’s death in office in 1980, Mike Mansfield worked with three other Japanese prime ministers. According to Mansfield’s biographer Don Oberdorfer, President Carter described Mansfield’s service in Japan during this challenging period as “both constructive and stabilizing.” The President commended Mike Mansfield for having “…helped avoid economic disturbances.  Knowing that you are in Tokyo and having the benefit of your sound observations and candid comments has helped our relationship.” (Don Oberdorfer, Senator Mansfield (Washington: Smithsonian, 2003))

Photo credit: 84-368. Mike Mansfield Collection, K. Ross Toole Archives, Archives & Special Collections, Mansfield Library, The University of Montana.

For more Mike Mansfield Photo of the Week, click here.

June 14-19, 2012 

Friends of the Foundation may be interested in the “15th Annual Freeman Salzburg Symposium on Dynamic Asia: Strategies for a Common Future.”  It is not our event, but instead hosted by the Salzburg Global Seminar, an international forum for thinkers, policymakers and experts, based in Salzburg, Austria, and the Freeman Foundation, a private foundation with offices in New York, New York, Stowe, Vermont and Honolulu, Hawaii; the Freeman Foundation’s major objectives include strengthening the bonds of friendship between the United States and countries of East Asia.

This invitation-only symposium on June 14-19 will bring young leaders from the academic, policy and media communities to Salzburg to discuss regional trends, forces of conflict and cooperation, and steps for making U.S.-Asia ties mutually constructive and beneficial.

Learn more about the symposium and Salzburg Global Seminar here:

http://www.salzburgglobal.org/current/sessions-b.cfm?IDSpecial_Event=3260.

For any inquiries, please contact admissions@salzburgglobal.org.

Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced April 29 that Mansfield Foundation Board member L. Desaix Anderson is among the recipients of the 2012 Spring Imperial Decorations.  Mr. Anderson will receive the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon in recognition of his contributions to mutual understanding and strengthening the U.S.-Japan relationship.

Mr. Anderson served for thirty-five years as a foreign service officer in the U.S. Department of State, working in Asia and on Asian issues.  From 1985-1989, he served as deputy chief of mission in Tokyo under Ambassador Mike Mansfield.  The Embassy of Japan’s press release [link] announcing the honor notes that despite several challenging bilateral issues, “Mr. Anderson worked hard to support Ambassador Mansfield, who did his best to promote the understanding that ‘the U.S.-Japan relationship is the most uniquely important in the world,’ and sought to stabilize and improve that relationship.”  Mr. Anderson currently writes on Asian issues and paints in New York City.

Yoshimasa Hayashi 04-26-12 CSIS speech

Here is the link to the article: http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2012/04/152599.html

Article is as follows:

Failed launch still strikes prospects for diplomacy

By L. Gordon Flake
WASHINGTON, April 13, Kyodo

Now that the DPRK has gone ahead with the launch of what it has claimed was an attempt to put a satellite into orbit, international attention will quickly turn to assessing the implications of the launch and its apparent failure.

As evidenced by reports of plans for an immediate emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council, the failure of the rocket will not slow international condemnation of North Korea’s actions.

Perhaps more importantly, the DPRK’s decision to go ahead with its attempt has effectively eliminated the prospects for a return to the negotiating table, at least until the end of this year.

Not only are the DPRK negotiators who brokered the ”Leap-day” agreement with the U.S. in Beijing on February 29th deeply discredited, but given the rapidly approaching U.S. Presidential Election it is almost impossible to imagine that the Obama Administration would be willing to re-engage with the DPRK at this juncture.

In the course of a November 11, 2010 press conference with ROK President Lee Myung Bak, President Obama made it clear that before the U.S. would ”spend the extraordinary time and energy” involved in getting back to the Six Party Talks, it would first need to see what he described as a ”seriousness of purpose” on the part of North Korea.

In essence, the series of talks which led to the February 29th deal were a test of North Korea’s intentions. Even if DPRK officials believed their own spurious distinctions between a missile and satellite both using the same multi-stage rocket technology explicitly banned by several UN Security Council Resolutions, proceeding with such a launch barely a month after the ”Leap Day” deal was announced and in the face of clear U.S. warnings can hardly be interpreted as ”seriousness of purpose.”

On the contrary, for what were likely reasons related to domestic propaganda, the DPRK chose to prioritize an expensive launch over a deal which would have provided significant and much needed food aid as well as a potential path toward reduced tensions on the peninsula.

In the end, the real losers are the North Korean people.

Perhaps more concerning still are reports that North Korea may also be preparing for yet another nuclear test.

If the events of 2009 are any guide, the DPRK leadership is likely to respond to any new condemnation of or sanctions related to its recent launch indignantly and to claim such to be evidence of ”hostile intent” requiring a further demonstration of what it calls its ”nuclear deterrent.”

Less than four months after Kim Jong Il’s death it is difficult to know for sure whether recent DPRK actions represent decisions by new leader Kim Jong Un, or merely a continuation of decisions made by Kim Jong Il. Either way, the legacy left by Kim Jong Il continues to threaten to destabilize the Korean peninsula and the region.

–

President Jimmy Carter and Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield, June 24, 1976.

After retiring from the Senate, Mike Mansfield planned to spend his days relaxing and reading with Maureen, but his political prowess and abundant knowledge remained in high demand. Mansfield’s biographer Don Oberdorfer writes, “Carter did not know Mansfield well but was aware of the nearly universal admiration in which he was held and of his extensive experience in Asia.” (Senator Mansfield (Washington: Smithsonian, 2003)).

In early 1977, the newly-elected President Carter requested that Mansfield join a delegation to Hanoi slated to discuss U.S.-Vietnam relations. That same year, President Carter appointed Mansfield as the new ambassador to Japan, and Mansfield graciously accepted his new post. He had taken six trips to Japan while serving in the Senate. Upon returning from his final trip as a member of Congress in 1976, Mansfield submitted a report to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee stating, “U.S.-Japan relations are good but they could be better. The era of patron-client is over. A new relationship on the basis of equality and mutuality of interests has begun.” (Don Oberdorfer, Senator Mansfield (Washington: Smithsonian, 2003)).

However, Carter knew that Mansfield’s knowledge of Asia extended well beyond the Japanese borders and often consulted him on issues pertaining to the area as a whole. According to Oberdorfer, President Carter instructed other U.S.ambassadors to Asia to regard Mansfield as a senior counselor for the entire region.

Photo credit: 1999-1652, Mike Mansfield Collection, K. Ross Toole Archives, Archives & Special Collections, Mansfield Library, The University of Montana.

For more information on Mike Mansfield Photo of the Week, please click here.