The August 2009 general election in Japan ushered in a new political era with the Democratic Party of Japan winning power for the first time and ending over 50 years of almost uninterrupted rule by the Liberal Democratic Party. The Japan Foundation, Sydney, Blake Dawson and Asialink are delighted to invite Professor Arthur Stockwin, renowned scholar of Japanese political studies, to Australia to discuss the implications of this change in government on Japan’s political landscape.

Professor Stockwin graduated from the University of Oxford in 1959 and earned a PhD from the Australian National University in 1965. After teaching at ANU for many years, Professor Stockwin returned to Britain in 1981 to serve as Director of the NISSAN Institute of Japanese Studies at the University of Oxford. He retired from the position in 2003, and became an honorary director and an honorary fellow of St Antony’s College. His major publications include The Japanese Socialist Party and Neutralism (1968), Dictionary of the Modern Politics of Japan (2003) and Governing Japan (2008). Professor Stockwin has made an outstanding contribution to the development of Japanese studies through his research and teaching and has received various awards including the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon in 2004, The Japan Foundation Award for Japanese Studies and Intellectual Exchange in 2009 and an OBE for services to academic excellence in January 2009.

Don’t miss this rare opportunity to hear from an esteemed expert in the field of Japanese studies.