Division of International Studies, Human and Socio-Environmental StudiesKanazawa University

Featured professor: Dr. Ryoko Nakano

Dr. Ryoko Nakano is an Associate Professor in the School of International Studies and the Faculty of Law at Kanazawa University. She has published numerous works on international relations in East Asia and Japanese international perspectives.

Degrees:
D.Phil. Oxford University
M.Sc.Econ. Aberystwyth University
M.A. Kobe University
B.A. Nanzan University

Q1: What do you specialize?

I specialize in International Relations and have extensively worked on Japanese international perspectives. I have been interested in how norms and ideas play a role in world politics and have published books and articles on global norm diffusion and Japanese perspectives of international relations. Although the world of state politics seems to be driven by the logic of power, societal and cultural elements cannot be ignored. I started off with the work of a Japanese liberal intellectual to explore how Japan observed the world in the early 20th century and then moved on to more contemporary issues from emerging norms to the memory of war. In particular, I work with the cases of Japan and East Asia.

Q2: You have studied and taught outside Japan. How does your overseas experience help your research?

The first-year experience of my study in the UK was tough but meaningful. I wanted to study the theory of international relations, which turned out to be an important base to think of Japanese political thought in a wider theoretical framework. I gained a broad knowledge of how the discipline has developed and what kind of challenges are ahead. While I was teaching at the National University of Singapore, I have also encountered inspirational works that were not translated into Japanese. Although I am currently based in Japan, I keep up to date with new research trends and write and communicate in English (see her brief article on UNESCO and Sino-Japanese relations).

Professor Nakano (on the far right) chairing an international symposium in Singapore.

Q3: What is the benefit of doing research in Kanazawa

Kanazawa is a great place that helps me to think deeply of the world in a comfortable academic atmosphere. To think and write, it is not always necessary to stay in the city. What we need is a good intellectual atmosphere and a quiet and cozy place where you can focus on your research. It is also enjoyable to discuss with my colleagues a wide range of issues on Japan and international relations. Kanazawa University offers such an environment.

Professor Nakano giving a presentation on East Asia's politics over heritage.

Q4: What do you want your students to learn in Kanazawa University?

There are so many challenging issues in the 21st century. Let's think how we understand them in a constructive manner and find out what we can do about them.

Major Works

Book:

Beyond the Western Liberal Order: Yanaihara Tadao and Empire as Society (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013)

This book introduces the political thought of Yanaihara Tadao (1893-1961), the most prominent Japanese social scientist working on empire, population migration and colonial policy, and uses it as a platform which to examine the global challenges faced by the U.S. hegemonic world order today, or what is often described as the Western liberal order.



Journal articles: 
“A Failure of Global Documentary Heritage? UNESCO's ‘Memory of the World’ and Heritage Dissonance in East Asia,” Contemporary Politics, 24(4) 2018, pp. 481-496 

“The Politics of Norm Glocalisation: Limits in Applying R2P to Protecting Children” (with Jochen Prantl), GR2P, 10(1-2), 2018, pp. 97-120 

“Sino-Japanese Territorial Dispute and the Perception of Threat and Power Transition,” The Pacific Review, 29(2), 2016, pp. 165-186 

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