From ‘Friend’ to Partner: US-Japan Coordination Lessons from Operation TOMODACHI Applied to New Bilateral Missions in Asia
Keynote Speaker: ISOBE, Koichi, Lieutenant General (Ret.), Japan Ground Self-Defense Force
Discussant: James L. Schoff, Senior Director, US-Japan NEXT Alliance Initiative, Sasakawa Peace Foundation USA
Moderated by Ayumi Teraoka, Postdoctoral Research Scholar, Weatherhead East Asian Institute; Postdoctoral Research Fellow, China and the World Program
Coinciding with the recent publication of an English version of 「トモダチ作戦の最前線：福島原発事故に見る日米同盟連携の教訓 」(Tomodachi Sakusen no Saizensen: Fukushima Genpatsu Jiko ni Miru Nichibei Domei Renkei Kyoukun), author and retired Lt. General of Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Forces Koichi Isobe will describe the major findings from his personal experience in disaster relief and what it suggests for current US-Japan efforts to modernize their command-and-control (C2) arrangements and defense cooperation.
This book is a comprehensive and detailed account of Isobe’s experience and observations on the frontlines of the allied Operation TOMODACHI, following the tragic earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disasters that hit northeastern Japan in March 2011. Lt. Gen. Isobe also interviewed dozens of other high-ranking officials and officers who responded to the crisis from Japan and the US to produce this unique resource for US policy makers, by describing a Japanese perspective of the valuable lessons learned from this unprecedented alliance operation. Thanks to this book, policy makers in the United States now have greater access to a behind-the-scenes telling of the most intense US-Japan disaster and consequence management operation ever undertaken, seen through the eyes of a high-ranking Japanese military officer actively looking for insights that can be applied to future bilateral military missions.
The book’s English editor, Jim Schoff (Sr. Director of Sasakawa Peace Foundation USA and former Sr. Advisor for East Asia at the Pentagon at that time) will join the event as a discussant following Isobe’s opening address, and the two will describe recent findings from Sasakawa USA’s recent bilateral project on C2 modernization and the future of US-Japan defense cooperation.
This event is hosted by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute and by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation USA and co-sponsored by the Columbia-Harvard China and the World program.
Registration:
- To attend this event in-person, please register HERE.
- To attend this event online, please register HERE.
Contact Information
Hiba Rashid
212-853-4840
