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CG Kamo’s Remarks

At the Japan Studies Association, KCC, Reception with Prof. Ueki 

June 3, 2010

 Good Evening. Professor Ueki, visiting college teachers, Chancellor Richards, Distinguished Guests, and Ladies and Gentlemen: Aloha!

 Thank you for being here. My wife and I wish to extend our hearty welcome to you all. We are very much privileged and thrilled to be your host and hostess at this special gathering.

 This is special as we combine a lecture with a reception. I hope this will work for everybody. We are hosting this reception to honor Kapi’olani Community College for its effort to enhance the mutual understanding and friendship between the U.S. and Japan. The Japan Studies Association of KCC is currently running a 3 week-long crash course on Japan. It brings together 20 college teachers from across the U.S. to give them a primary but wide exposure to Japan through their classes of Japanese language, history, culture and many more.

 They have been sitting for the past two weeks and there is still one more week to go. My dear college teachers, do you think you have had enough? In order to help you resist the temptation to go back to McDonald’s and the Hollywood movies, I decided to encourage you to stay on course by throwing a party for you.

 This is also our humble attempt to reciprocate the hospitality shown by Kapi’olani Community College in the past 9 month for us. We are grateful for their friendship and professional collaboration.

 Needless to say, our main program this evening is Professor Ueki’s lecture. We all look forward to that. I am sorry for having kept you waiting. I know you are waiting for the lecture, the subsequent mingling time with food and drink and thus the end of my remarks. But please allow me to touch on one more point.

 This is regarding Japanese culture. Today I received an e-mail from a friend of mine in Tokyo, reminding me of a Japanese traditional music lecture/demonstration by a visiting Japanese shami-sen master. It is scheduled to be held at Orvis Auditorium of the University of Hawaii at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow evening. It’s free, genuinely Japanese, educational and highly recommended. Fliers are available at the front desk. So please take one when you leave.

 Distinguished guests,

 It is my utmost honor and privilege to introduce Professor Chikako Ueki to you. Thank you very much, Professor Ueki, for joining us here today to share your thoughts with us despite your busy schedule. She arrived in Honolulu this morning and already got done a job in appearing a local TV program called ‘Asia in Review’, which will be shown future Tuesday at channel 54 from 7 p.m. She will have a meeting at PACOM tomorrow morning and will give another lecture tomorrow afternoon.

 This evening she is going to speak on our bilateral relationship. Her lecture is entitled “The U.S.-Japan Alliance at 50: Achievements and Challenges”

  Dr. Chikako Kawakatsu Ueki is Professor of International Relations at the Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies(GSAPS)  at Waseda University. She teaches “International Security” and “International Relations and Security in East Asia.” She served as a member of the Prime Minister’s Council on Security and Defense Capabilities in 2009.

 Her areas of expertise include causes and prevention of war and East Asian international relations with a special focus on U.A.-Japan-China relations. She has written extensively on issues concerning threat perception in a unipolar world, transformation of international relations after the Cold War, and issues relating to security problems in East Asia. At Waseda University, she leads a program on Political Integration at the Global Institute for Asian Regional Integration, and research projects on Security Studies at the Institute for Asia-Pacific Studies and at the Organization for Japan-U.S. Studies.

 Prior to joining GSAPS, Dr. Ueki was Senior Research Fellow and Professor at the National Institute for Defense Studies, which is the main research arm of the Japan Ministry of Defense. From 1983 to 1992, she was Staff Writer and Political Correspondent for Asahi Shimbun, a major Japanese daily newspaper. She was Visiting Scholar at the Institute of International Relations at Peking University in 1998.

 Dr. Ueki earned her Ph.D. in Political Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her thesis: ”The Rise of ‘China Threat’ Arguments” examined U.S. and Japanese perceptions of China after the Cold War. The dissertation received Lucian Pye Award for Best Dissertation in Political Science. She also holds an M.A. in International Relations and a B.A. in French Studies from Sophia University.

 Now, ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming Professor Ueki.