Choosing Asia, Choosing Each Other: Australia–Japan Panel Discussion
Description
As Australia and Japan mark fifty years of friendship, this panel brings together states-people, educators and researchers to ask a pointed question:
What does ensuring another fifty years of friendship within the broader Indo-Pacific framework actually require of us?
The discussion will cover the following themes:
Building Asia capacity in the Indo-Pacific: Examining the current policy momentum around national ‘Asia capability’ and recommendations from the ‘Choose Asia’ agenda.
Relationships over transactional knowledge: A case for a relational and pragmatic focus in language, intercultural education, and politics.
Making space for real friendships in a harder climate: Australia-Japan Special Strategic Partnership necessitates intense and multilayered people-to-people exchanges on global and regional agendas.
The event will be followed by light refreshments supported by the Macquarie Japanese Studies (MJS) Centre.
Registrations will close 8th October at 12:00pm.
Chair
A/Prof Courtney Fung
Associate Professor, Security Studies, Macquarie Unviersity Founding Co-Director, China Strategic Knowledge Initiative
Panel
Mr Osamu Yamanaka
Consul-General of Japan in Sydney Mr Yamanaka is a career diplomat who joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) of Japan in 1990. He assumed his current role, as the Consul-General of Japan in Sydney, in October 2024. Prior to arriving in Australia, Mr Yamanaka was the Deputy Permanent Representative at the Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations in New York. His other overseas postings include the Embassy of Japan in Brazil as Minister, the International Energy Agency in France as the Director of the Asia Pacific and Latin America division, the Embassy of Japan in Malaysia as First Secretary, and the Permanent Mission of Japan to the International Organisation in Switzerland as First Secretary and Counsellor. Mr Yamanaka has also held various positions with MOFA in the Foreign Policy Bureau and the Economic Cooperation Bureau. Mr Yamanaka speaks English. He graduated with a Bachelor of Laws from Hitotsubashi University in 1990.
Dr Chavalin Svetanant
Senior Lecturer, Global Langues and Cultures, Macquarie Unviersity Director, Macquarie Japanese Studies Centre
Dr Tom Baudinette
Senior Lecturer, Global Languages and Cultures, Macquarie University Director of Research Training, School of International Studies
Mr Benjamin Gibb
Co-Head Teacher, Languages & International Studies, St Ives High School
Mr Ryosuke Hanada
PhD Candidate, Security Studies, Macquarie Unviersity
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