『The US-Japan Relations in the Age of “Global Society”: From the “Friendly Competition” to the “Alliance”』（Yushisha、2022）
Fumitaka Cho
（Lecturer, Faculty of International Studies, Hiroshima City University）
It is a great honor for me to receive this year’s distinguished Masayoshi Ohira Memorial Prize. I am very grateful to the Masayoshi Ohira Foundation staff and the professors who were involved as judges.
My book examines how US?Japanese relations evolved in the 1970s. This era saw an interdependence deepening among Western countries and a worldview that considered “the earth” a single organic entity promulgating due to a series of newly emerging cross-border problems. Emphasizing this stream of thought, this book tries to present a novel approach to international history that addresses not only traditional political/diplomatic relations centering on security issues but also sociocultural dimensions including refugees, culture, and animal life.
The book is also something like an ensemble drama that depicts various people trying to come to grips with the era. Masayoshi Ohira is one of the book’s chief protagonists; he is one of the people who thought very hard and sincerely about the issues that emerged in the period this book covers and required intellectual vigor to contend with. As the Japanese were forced to confront the Indochinese refugee question, for example, Ohira said the following in an NHK program: “The Japanese, I think, ought to think about the validity of their long-standing attitudes [toward refugees] as the contemporaries are witnessing the interdependence surging and the earth dwindling… I want Japan to be a democratic country in which citizens from abroad can resettle and lead decent lives. But this is far from the reality. The Japanese have to internationalize not only their economy but also their lives themselves.” Considering the way our society is today, I wonder how much Japan has progressed since Ohira lamented its parochialism. While words like “diversity” and “inclusion” are ubiquitous today, they can easily be seen as empty slogans. How hard and sincerely are we contemplating a desirable trajectory for our society to follow? Examining the intellectual journey of Masayoshi Ohira surely makes us seriously consider this question.

Profile
Fumitaka Cho was born in Nara, Japan in 1986. In 2010, he graduated from the Faculty of Law at Chuo University in Tokyo. In 2021, he was received a Ph.D. from Rikkyo University. Prior to his arrival at Hiroshima City University, Dr. Cho was a visiting scholar at The Sigur Center for Asian Studies, The George Washington University, Washington D.C., an assistant professor at Rikkyo University, and a specially appointed researcher at The Institute for American Studies, Rikkyo University.