By Kotaro Watanabe and Jeff Mazziotta.
On Tuesday, November 19th 2024, YCAPS featured Dr. Tomonori Yoshizaki of Tokyo University in Fussa, where he gave a seminar on the challenges of the Ukraine and Taiwan crises and the 'new round of Indo-Pacific connectivity'. This event was part of the YCAPS Community Conversations series. The participants enjoyed snacks and drinks while connecting with each other and the speaker.
Dr. Yoshizaki dove into the current Ukraine and Taiwan crises, considering the U.S., Japan, China and North Korea situations. He explained concepts like the Black Swan situation, meaning “Never Say Never”, thinking about the worst scenarios as much as possible. He also added the idea of “Red Team Thinking”, imagining threatening countries such as China and North Korea, trying to understand their perspectives. Dr. Yoshizaki challenged attendees in different ways. One example is when Dr. Yoshizaki handed the audience members papers and told them to draw a map of Japan upside down to understand China and North Korea’s perspectives on Japan.
Towards the end of the event, Dr. Yoshizaki discussed several questions posed by audience members which developed into a robust discussion with a strong back and forth with Dr. Yoshizaki as well as various members of the audience.