After nearly 70 years of distant relations, ties between NATO and Japan are flourishing. Over the past year alone, an unpreceded level of integration and planned commitment has taken place with the adoption of a number of important initiatives, including high-level political dialogues, joint military training, and cooperation in science, technology, and cyber security. This seminar considers the drivers and objectives of the institutionalization of NATO-Japan relations and their implications for broader global security in both the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific.

Japan’s government posits that its 2022 three national security documents are at the same time transformational and yet maintain overall continuity in military and security policy. This talk through investigating several pivotal aspects of the defence reforms weighs the arguments for essential continuity versus step change. It concludes that the three documents fundamentally change Japan’s exclusively defence-oriented policy and the US-Japan alliance division of labour, further accelerate Japan’s radical military trajectory, and pose important implications for regional security.

Corporeal Mime is a theatrical art based on the expressive power of the body. Born in early 20th century France it is now practised across the globe - including Japan. In this seminar, the directors of Japan-based Tarinainanika Theatre Company will share with you the story of this globe-trotting art. You will experience for yourself its startling but intuitive corporeal grammar. And together we will flesh out the case for a new departure in transnational understanding, based on the universal language of the body.

The medieval period (11-16c) in Japan was a moment of great creativity in the religious and political sphere. Shaped by Tantric Buddhism, new notions of attainment emerged, articulated through distinctive practices and unconventional visual forms. This talk re-reads a curious portrait of Go-Daigo Tenno in light of an influential ritual of Tantric consecration that was constructed anew in the medieval period.

Surgeon Commander Charlotte Evans MBChB MSc MRCPsych RN is the Royal Navy Hudson Visiting Fellow at St Antony’s College, Oxford. She recently served as the Consultant Advisor in Psychiatry to the Head of Royal Navy Healthcare, where she provided subject matter expertise in her clinical role as a consultant psychiatrist, as well as non-clinical support and advice on mental health and illness on strategic, operational and tactical levels.

Lieutenant General Richard Nugee CB CVO CBE was appointed as Non-Executive Director for Climate Change and Sustainability at the Ministry of Defence in March 2021. Before this appointment, Lt Gen Nugee wrote the review of the Ministry of Defence’s approach to climate change and sustainability, leading directly to the 2021 Ministry of Defence Climate Change and Sustainability Strategic Approach.

HE Jukka Siukosaari is the serving Ambassador of Finland to the United Kingdom. Prior to being appointed to the post in 2021, he had previously served in the Office of the President of the Republic of Finland, as well as various diplomatic roles in Japan, Argentina, South Africa, Italy and the Republic of Ireland.

The United Kingdom intends to position itself as a leader in the global Artificial Intelligence (AI) ecosystem, both in its innovation and development as well as its regulation. The government has released their proposal for “A Pro-Innovation Approach to AI Regulation”, intending to offer a middle-path between the prevailing “hands-off” approach to AI regulation in the USA and the stronger regulatory approach of the European Union.