In March, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) announced the establishment of a new full-time Senior Fellow for Japanese Studies who will be based at the think tank's London headquarters. The position, which has not yet been filled (job ad here), was created through a multi-million dollar donation from the government of Japan.
In the United States, the Hudson Institute is also launching a Japan Chair, with President Donald Trump's former National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster to be the new chair.
Some of the people spotted in attendance at a launch event for Hudson's Japan Chair, according to Politico, include:
H.R. McMaster, Ken Weinstein, Matt Pottinger, Patrick Cronin, Mike Pillsbury, Scooter Libby, Jim Carafano, Leslie Schweitzer, Francesca Craig, Dave Lawler, Zeke Miller, Josh Rogin, Halley Toosi and Steve Herman.
In 2018, after being pushed out of the Trump Administration, McMaster returned to Stanford's Hoover Institution. McMaster had his first stint at Hoover in 2002 as a national security affairs fellow and then served as a visiting fellow from 2003 to 2017.
He has also been a Consulting Senior Fellow at IISS. Conservatives launched numerous attacks (see here, here, and here) for his affiliation with the UK-based think tank. Dr. Patrick Cronin, who holds Hudson's Asia-Pacific Security Chair, formerly served as Director of Studies at IISS. Cronin recently left the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) to join Hudson.
The largest and most influential Japan Chair is at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). It is run by Dr. Michael Green, former Senior Director for Asia at the National Security Council (NSC).
In 2018, Hudson hosted more than 115 events in Washington, DC, including a major China speech by Vice President Mike Pence. Hudson also says its experts penned 446 op-eds in major newspapers in 2018.
Last year, Hudson had total revenues of $17.5 million. Of that, 40% came from individuals, 30% from foundations, 12% from corporations, 11% from endowment distributions, and 7% from governments.
Besides the government of Japan, other Japanese donors to Hudson include: All Nippon Airways (ANA), The Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership, Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), Mitsui Corporation, and Hitachi.
Non-Japanese donors to the think tank include the Government of Denmark, MacArthur Foundation, Microsoft, Rupert Murdoch, Northrop Grumman, Oracle, Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO), Boeing, and Ford Motor.
Besides think tanks, the Japanese government has also given generously to various US colleges and universities in recent years, including $5 million each to Georgetown, Columbia, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
