“The Origins of U.S. Policy in the East China Sea Islands Dispute: Okinawa’s Reversion and the Senkaku Islands” (Naogoya University Press, 2015)

ELDRIDGE ROBERT DAVID (President, The Eldridge Thinktank)

Thank you all for gathering on this gorgeous day. I am truly honored to receive this award today, on behalf of my fellow recipients for at least four reasons.
First, this is an award that every scholar in our field aims for.
Second, Masayoshi Ohira was a man of profound honor and integrity, respected not only in Japan, but throughout the world.
Third, as symbolized in the Ohira Collection of Mr. Ohira was someone who read and studied intensely, a thoughtful man.
Fourth, this award means that the efforts we each put into our respective books have not only been recognized but will also be more broadly shared and known throughout Japan and perhaps the world.
I believe my fellow recipients share these sentiments. I also believe my fellow recipients?Professors Okamoto, Mieno, and Tanaka, and Mr. Takahashi?feel as well a strong sense of gratitude to the Masayoshi Ohira Memorial Foundation and to the selection committee responsible for choosing the respective works, which we learned earlier was a difficult process.
There are also many other people, my fellow recipients would agree, that we must thank?our own teachers and professors along the way, our colleagues near and far, our families, our institutions, and our publishers.
In my own case, I am particularly grateful to my wife and children who are forced to “live” the research and writing process with me, my publisher, Mr. Miki Shingo of Nagoya University Press, scholars Yoshida Shingo and Nakajima Takuma, who assisted with the translation from English to Japanese, and the numerous scholars whom I have been influenced by, such as Watanabe Akio.
My own academic advisor, who is here today, Professor Iokibe Makoto, pushed me and my classmates to be the very best we could be both in and out of the classroom.
As guests here this afternoon will know, Iokibe sensei and Watanabe sensei, for example, and Watanabe Toshio sensei who headed the selection committee, for example, are academics who excel not only in historical research but also very much help policy makers grapple with the challenges facing Japan and the world. This is the sort of academic I have sought to be, both for my adopted country of Japan, where I have been a resident for twenty-six years, but also for my own country, the United States. Being a bridge?between academia and policy, between Japan and the United States?however, isn’t easy, if one takes his or her work seriously.
My book on the origins of the Senkaku problem, which won this year’s award, was an attempt at assisting both Japanese and U.S. decision-makers understand the history better and to encourage them to face the challenges more honestly. How they handle it will have a major impact on not only the current situation today but the future of the region as well.
I intend to continue my research in this area as well and will be doing a follow-up book likely called the Senkaku Problem Today, which traces the story from 1972 to today. I will be doing this as I continue to work on many, many, many other projects.
I believe this is true of my fellow recipients as well. We will continue to both deepen and broaden their research.
Thank you for your interest and support in our work!

Profile
Eldridge is a native of New Jersey, United States. After studying in Paris, he graduated from the International Relations Department at Lynchburg College in Virginia in May 1990. After coming to Japan that same year in July, he attended Kobe University’s Graduate School of Law, receiving his Ph.D. in March 1999. He served as a fellow at the Suntory Foundation and the Research Institute for Peace and Security before joining Osaka University’s Graduate School of International Public Policy in July 2001 as an associate Professor. He served as the Deputy Assistant Chief of Staff, G-7 (Government and External Affairs), Marine Corps Installations Pacific, in Okinawa from September 2009-May 2015. He is the author of many works, including The Origins of the Bilateral Okinawa Problem (2001, Routledge), Iwo Jima and the Bonin Islands in U.S.-Japan Relations (2014, Marine Corps University Press), and, in Japanese only, Okinawa Ron (On Okinawa), published by Shincho Shinsho, 2016.