Future of Regional Security Partnership Architecture

Regional Security Partnerships are rapidly evolving in the Indo-Pacific. While the U.S. remains the key ally of Japan, Australia, South Korea and the Philippines, its ‘America First’ stance is urging those allies to contribute more to regional security. At the same time bilateral and minilateral security partnerships are flourishing in the region and growing in their importance. This panel will take stock of those changes and discuss the implications of future developments.

YCAPS is glad to partner with Kreab to deliver this opportunity

Please use this link to RSVP for in-person attendance

*Registration is mandatory

Schedule :

18:00-18:30: Light refreshments & Networking

18:30: Welcome by Doi-san and brief introduction of the topic and speakers

18:35-1905:

• Watanabe-san comments on a Japanese perspective on regional security architecture. (‘One theatre, Asian NATO, AP4)

• Dr. Bradford comments on how the potential for further regional cooperation/integration sits with existing alliance structures

• Ogi-san comments on his perspective on regional security architecture with special focus on defense industrial cooperation

• Professor Satoh comments on perceptions and priorities of other potential members of regional defense/security ‘architecture’

19:05-19:40: Q&A with members of the audience, moderated by James “Jim” Hartman

19:40: wrap up and thanks

19:45 all activities finished

Date: Wednesday, October 8, 2025

Time: 18:00 refreshments, 18:30 Seminar start

Language: English

Venue: Kreab, グリーンヒルズMORIタワ 11F 2 Chome-5-1 Atago, Minato City, Tokyo 105-6211

Google Maps: https://maps.app.goo.gl/eW37EsN43Kn6zFJh6

Speakers:

Tsuneo Watanabe is a Senior Fellow at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, which he joined in 2016 after serving as a senior fellow and a director of foreign and security policy research at the Tokyo Foundation from 2009 to 2016. He served as a senior fellow at the Mitsui Global Strategic Studies Institute in Tokyo from 2005 to 2009. In 1995, Watanabe joined the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C. He served as a visiting research scholar, research associate, fellow, and senior fellow until 2005. He is also currently an adjunct fellow of CSIS. Watanabe received his D.D.S. from Tohoku University in Japan and his M.A. in political science from the New School for Social Research in New York.

John F. Bradford is a Japan Foundation Indo-Pacific Partnerships Fellow and the Executive Director of the Yokosuka Council on Asia-Pacific Studies (YCAPS). He has previously held research positions with the Council on Foreign Relations as an International Affairs Fellow in Jakarta and Tokyo and at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Sinapore. His research focuses on Asian security with special attention given to maritime issues and cooperative affairs. Before becoming a full-time community builder and researcher, he spent more than twenty-three years as a U.S. Navy officer. His service history included command of a ballistic missile defense-capable Aegis destroyer, an assignment at the 7th Fleet Regional Cooperation Coordinator, and a term as Country Director for Japan in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (Policy). John holds a PhD from King's College London. As an Olmsted Scholar, he studied in the Department of Political Science at Gadjah Mada University in Indonesia and completed an MSc (Strategic Studies) from RSIS. He is also a graduate of Japan’s National Institute of Defence Studies, the US Naval War College and Cornell University. He is particularly proud of the training he received as a midshipman aboard the Royal Malaysian Navy ship KD Rahmat.

Hirohito Ogi is a senior research fellow at the Institute of Geoeconomics (IOG) studying military strategy and Japan’s defense policy. Before joining the IOG, Mr. Ogi had been a career government official at the Ministry of Defense (MOD) and Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) for 16 years. From 2021 to 2022, he served as the Principal Deputy Director for the Strategic Intelligence Analysis Office, the Defense Intelligence Division at the MOD, where he led the MOD’s defense intelligence. From 2019 to 2021, he served as a Deputy Director of the Defense Planning and Programming Division at the MOD. He holds a Master’s degree in international affairs from the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), Columbia University, and a Bachelor’s degree in arts and sciences from the University of Tokyo. He is the author of various publications including Comparative Study of Defense Industries: Autonomy, Priority, and Sustainability (co-authored, Institute of Geoeconomics, 2023).

Haruko Satoh is a Specially Appointed Professor at the Osaka School of International Public Policy, University of Osaka; she has been at OSIPP since 2011, where she also ran the Peace and Human Security in Asia exchange programme with 6 Southeast Asian universities. Professor Satoh previously worked at the Japan Center for International Exchange (JCIE), Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA) and Chatham House; studied at Mount Holyoke College, SAIS-Bologna Center, Johns Hopkins University and University of Cambridge.

Moderator:

James “Jim” Hartman is a Tokyo-based consultant on Indo-Pacific security issues. Over an extensive career in the U.S. Navy, he advised both U.S. and Japanese leadership on the bilateral intersections of maritime strategy, force design, and naval culture. As a Captain, he served as an advisor to the U.S. Seventh Fleet. He also embedded for years at the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force headquarters (Maritime Staff Office) in Tokyo, connecting Japanese leaders with U.S. leadership in the Pentagon, Hawaii, and Yokosuka. Earlier in his career, Jim flew H-60 helicopters operationally in the Western Pacific and Middle East, and commanded the helicopter weapons and tactics school in San Diego. Embedded with the German Navy, he flew operational shipboard Mk88A Super Lynx helicopters in northern Europe and the Bab-el-Mandeb region. Jim studied Japanese national security at the JMSDF Command and Staff College in Tokyo, and Japanese at the U.S. Defense Language Institute. He also holds a master's degree from Norwich University and a bachelor's in German Studies from Harvard.

Cost: Free of charge

Moderators: James "Jim" Hartman, YCAPS Senior Research Fellow

Format: This event will be off-the-record. Questions are encouraged.

Registration: Required via this link

Co-Sponsors: Kreab