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Kenji Kushida
Senior Fellow, Asia Program

about


Kenji Kushida is a senior fellow for Japan studies in Carnegie’s Asia Program, directing research on Japan, including the new Japan-Silicon Valley Innovation Initiative @ Carnegie. He was formerly a research scholar with the Japan Program at the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University.

Kushida’s research and projects are focused on: (1) Japan’s transforming political economy; (2) Japan’s startup ecosystem; (3) the Silicon Valley ecosystem and innovation; (4) the political economy of technology development and diffusion, including artificial intelligence; (5) how Japan’s extreme demographics shape technological opportunities; and (6) the Fukushima nuclear disaster. He has published several books and numerous articles in each of these streams in Japanese and English. 

Kushida has appeared in media including the New York Times, Washington Post, Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Nikkei Business, Diamond Harvard Business Review, NHK, PBS NewsHour, and NPR. He is also an International Research Fellow at the Canon Institute for Global Studies, a trustee of the Japan ICU Foundation, an alumnus of the Trilateral Commission David Rockefeller Fellows program, and a member of the Mansfield Foundation Network for the Future.

Kushida holds a PhD in political science from the University of California, Berkeley. He received his MA in East Asian studies and his BA in economics and East Asian studies with honors, all from Stanford University. 

 


affiliations
education
PhD, Political Science, University of California, Berkeley, MA, East Asian Studies, Stanford University, BA, Economics and East Asian Studies, Stanford University
languages
English, Japanese

All work from Kenji Kushida

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22 Results
Source: Getty
paper
Japan’s Aging Society as a Technological Opportunity

Japan’s extreme demographics are shaping the country’s innovation trajectory.

· October 3, 2024
apanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida leaves following a news conference on August 14, 2024 in Tokyo, Japan.
article
Kishida’s Legacy of Global Success, Domestic Distress

Kishida has seemed in many ways to be just the prime minister that Japan needed. Yet a difficult economic situation at home and his party’s political scandals conspired to keep his domestic popularity low.

· August 22, 2024
event
On the Frontier of U.S.-Japan Tech Collaborations
March 28, 2024

The United States and Japan continue to make technology collaborations a core pillar of their bilateral relationship, but many governmental discussions around trade and investment are framed by traditional and increasingly outdated notions of what is happening on the ground.

  • +1
  • Kenji Kushida
  • Aki Jiang
  • Ryosuke (Ricky) Sakai
  • Wataru (Doug) Kuribayashi
research
Korea's Path to Digital Leadership: How Seoul Can Lead on Standards and Standardization

This volume digs into South Korea’s experiences with digital standards and standardization and draws attention to Korea’s distinctive digital policy. It then compares Korea’s experiences to those of the United States and other Asian players, notably Malaysia and Japan—grading all four countries in key areas.

In The Media
in the media
'The Indicator from Planet Money': The tensions behind the sale of U.S. Steel

Concerns about Nippon Steel's plans to acquire U.S. Steel are reminiscent of the anti-Japanese industry sentiment of the 1980s and early 90s.

· February 2, 2024
NPR
In The Media
in the media
The Tensions Behind the Sale of U.S. Steel

Sectors that were out-competed by Japan - a lot of them did get decimated, but the entrepreneurial dynamism of the U.S. created higher-value-added industries - software, computers.

· January 22, 2024
NPR
article
The Silicon Valley Model and Technological Trajectories in Context

The Silicon Valley model offers lessons for regions around the world as they look to grow their own startup ecosystems.

· January 9, 2024
commentary
How Japan Pushed to Globalize Its Startup Ecosystem During the APEC Week

Japanese entrepreneurs face high hurdles to compete in Silicon Valley. Among many factors, three stand out.

· December 6, 2023
article
Silicon Valley Revisited: Series Overview

This series offers a deep dive into the Silicon Valley ecosystem, its continuing evolution, and its connections to the world amid new waves of technological innovation and geopolitical disruption.

· October 5, 2023
event
Accelerating U.S.-Japan Tech Innovation
March 30, 2023

Top leaders in both the US and Japan continue their commitments to put innovation as a core pillar of the bilateral relationship, but not enough is known about how this cutting-edge collaboration is actually driven more by the private sector.