Events

While the U.S. and Japan’s earliest generation of female legal scholars showed roughly similar numbers, their paths soon diverged dramatically. The number of women in the two legal academies in the 1950s to about 1960 were not all that different. Both nations counted phenomenally low numbers similarly. The U.S. took an early lead, but not by all that much. One report counted five women in tenure track positions in the U.S. in 1950 and another counted fourteen women before 1960. Japan could count five women by 1956 and eight women by 1958. Neither fifteen women in the U.S. nor eight women in Japan represent even token counts among individuals who made up the two countries’ legal academy professoriate in those times.

The difference then is in what followed. In the U.S., we crossed a count of 100 women around 1970 and then accelerated to 516 women by 1979, while Japan’s count essentially flatlined. From 1958 in Japan, there were no new women entrants for about ten years and then the next uptick in Japan was just five women entering the field in the late 1960s through 1974. After a second near hiatus of about eight years, Japan then saw some modest growth to have a total of twenty-two women who had entered law teaching by 1988. Our next found data point is 402 women in 2004.

The profound scarcity of voices of women academics as leaders, teachers, and scholars in Japanʻs legal academy for several decades remains significantly detrimental for Japanʻs gender circumstances today. The story demonstrates how crucial womenʻs and other feminist voices are in addressing gender gaps and dismantling patriarchy in a society. In particular, having women and feminist allies in the legal academy is essential for feminism to advance in a society. Conversely, deficits regarding women and feminist allies in the legal academy will invariably impact the overall society’s gender circumstances for the worse. And so, just as feminist legal theorists would suggest, it seems essential to assess those circumstances in Japan with the idea that gender gap deficits in Japan’s legal academy must be at least a contributing factor to the nation’s profound and distressing gender gap situation more generally that continue to the present day.

This talk aims to explore not only how, but why the two paths diverged so significantly. With time allowing, some effort will be made to draw upon Canada's circumstances to add another historical sequence into the telling here.

This session is moderated by Scott Harrison, Senior Program Manager, Engaging Asia at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada and Research Fellow at SFU's David Lam Centre.

Career and Mindset Workshop for Global Professionals: Building a positive mindset and success toolkit to align career and lifestyle. Presented by the Kakehashi Alumni Committee & Kristy Mariko LLC.

Speaker: Kristy Ishii is a Kakehashi Project alumna from the Japanese American Citizens League (Nikkei) cohort (2014). Following Kakehashi, she worked in Gunma, Japan through the JET program and as a recruiter in Tokyo for two years. She returned to the United States in 2020 and started a coaching company, Kristy Mariko Coaching, later that year. As a Career Transitions and Mindset Coach, she works with people all over the world, helping them find clarity in their career paths, rediscover their passions, and anchor their core values and life purpose. 

On behalf of the Japan International Cooperation Center (JICE), APF Canada invites all Canadian Kakehashi alumni to a special presentation on kimono and virtual dye-works tour delivered by Atsushi Tomita, fifth-generation head of Tokyo-based Tomita Sen-Kougei dye works. Capturing the spirit of Old Edo through a contemporary lens, Tomita Sen-Kougei adapts traditional designs and motifs to modern needs and contexts such as the Tokyo Olympics. Join us for a fascinating look at how the centuries-old kimono remains relevant in the 21st century.    

The Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada (APF Canada) and The Institute for Peace & Diplomacy (IPD) are pleased to co-host the second annual East Asia Strategy Forum (EASF 2022) on November 1-2 in downtown Ottawa.

EASF 2022 is a multi-disciplinary conference that will foster the exchange of knowledge and actionable policy recommendations on geopolitical and geo-economic developments in East Asia, and Canada’s foreign policy and defence approach to the region. It will attract a specialized in-person audience of around 200 participants, including academics, researchers, policymakers, defence and strategy experts, former military officials, current and former diplomats, and business leaders. 

With support from the MINDS program at the Canadian Department of National Defence, this two-day conference will be hosted in a hybrid format, convening in-person and virtual keynote speakers, deep-dive panels, and networking sessions. The program will engage around 45 expert speakers from Canada, the United States, and the Asia Pacific. Experts will engage in constructive discussions on East Asia’s strategic environment, alliances, energy security, maritime security and law, economic regionalism, proliferation, and cybersecurity.

This is a timely event as the Government of Canada shapes, and will likely soon announce, an Indo-Pacific Strategy to inform Canada’s engagement with the region in the coming years.

The following APF Canada-affiliated speakers will be presentting at this forum:

• Jeff Reeves, Vice President of Research & Strategy, Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada
• Stewart Beck, Former President and CEO, Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada
• Stephanie Martel, Distinguished Fellow, Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada
• Elina Noor, John H. McArthur Research Fellow, Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada
• Yves Tiberghien,  Distinguished Fellow, Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada

On behalf of the Japan International Cooperation Center (JICE), APF Canada is pleased to invite all Canadian Kakehashi alumni to a special presentation and workshop tour by Shinpei Kawachi, 16th generation of one of Japan’s most illustrious sword-smith families. With a history stretching back about 1,000 years, Japanese swords are at the same time weapons, sacred items and an art form, and the Kawachi Kunihira workshop is at the forefront of linking the traditional artform with digital technology as part of their mission to preserve this ancient art.

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APF Canada, with strong support from the public and private sectors, will lead the Second Canadian Women-only Business Mission to Japan (In-person), from December 5 to 9, 2022. 

This mission will focus on health care and clean technologies to spotlight the innovations Canadian women entrepreneurs bring to these sectors. The sixth mission in APF Canada’s Women’s Business Missions to Asia series, this unique event brings together Canadian women entrepreneurs with businesses in Japan to promote gender-inclusive trade, support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and catalyze international partnerships between Canadian companies and a key market in the Indo-Pacific region and the largest economy in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). 

The Second Canadian Women-only Business Mission to Japan is generously supported by contributions from the Government of Canada through the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario. 

Applications are now open and will be accepted on a rolling basis until 11:59 pm EDT on Monday, September 12, 2022 or until delegation spots are filled. Applicants are strongly advised to submit applications as soon as possible.

La Fondation Asie Pacifique du Canada, avec un fort appui des secteurs public et privé, dirigera la Deuxième mission commerciale exclusivement féminine du Canada au Japon du 5 au 9 décembre 2022. 

Cette mission en personne sera axée sur les soins de santé et les technologies propres pour mettre en valeur les innovations qu’apportent les entrepreneures canadiennes dans ces secteurs. Sixième mission de la série de missions commerciales exclusivement féminines en Asie de la FAP Canada, cet événement sans pareil réunira des entrepreneures canadiennes et des entreprises établies au Japon dans le but de favoriser le commerce inclusif pour les femmes, de soutenir les petites et moyennes entreprises (PME) et de catalyser la formation de partenariats internationaux entre les entreprises canadiennes et un marché incontournable dans la région indo-pacifique et la plus grande économie de l’Accord de Partenariat transpacifique global et progressiste (PTPGP).

La Deuxième mission commerciale exclusivement féminine du Canada au Japon est fier bénéficiaire de l'appui du gouvernement du Canada à travers l'Agence fédérale de dévéloppement économique pour le Sud de l'Ontario.

Les candidatures seront acceptées au fur et à mesure jusqu’au lundi 12 septembre 2022 à 23 h 59 (HAE), ou jusqu’à ce que les places au sein de la délégation soient toutes attribuées. Il est fortement conseillé de soumettre votre candidature dès que possible.