Author Archives: Julian Dierkes

Last week, on one of the few scheduled free days, I had a chance to visit Fukushima and to volunteer in a terrific relief effort. See my Jukupedia blog for a brief note on my experience.

On June 13, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency lifted all import restrictions on foods from Japan that had been imposed in March following the nuclear accident at Fukushima No. 1 plant.

This has been the single piece of information that every government official we’ve met with over the past two weeks has mentioned, whether it was at the national level or at the regional level. Canada was the first country to do so, and this was clearly noted in government circles.

Another lesson we learned through our various consultations is that the Canada-Japan EPA exists in a competitive field of FTA/EPAs vying for attention. Given this competition, I would go as far as claiming that if a Canada-Japan EPA does get concluded eventually, it will have been in part because of the very smart and symbolically powerful decision to lift import restrictions that was made in the government of Canada.

Students from the MAAPPS program and from 一橋大学 are currently holed up in a hotel just inside of Niigata Prefecture on the border with Nagano Prefecture participating in a simulation of a Canada-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement. Two and a half days into the negotiations and with only tonight and tomorrow morning to go, there are pairs of students negotiating in many corners and on lobby sofas in the hotel.

Unfortunately, the internet connection in this hotel is slightly shaky, so more detailed posts on results and reflections on the project will have to wait until we’re in reach of a better connection again.

While the intensity of the activities is exhausting, participants clearly seem to enjoying themselves as well. The fact that we’re in a hot springs resort certainly helps.

My current prediction is that there still is a good chance that one of the teams might walk out of the negotiations due to insurmountable differences. Demands for a liberalization of Canadian financial services and investments in natural resources are proving to be especially difficult topics.

Even in the early days of the 東日本大震災 (Great East Japan Earthquake), I had speculated that this event would come to be known as “3/11”. We have heard several interlocutors in Tokyo now refer to it as such. The impact the “triple disaster” has had on the affected communities is traumatic and relatively obvious, but it is clearly also becoming a watershed for national policy-makers.

Given the extent to which policy-makers in Japan see their current work as shaped by 3/11, it was noteworthy that several interlocutors in Tokyo emphasized several initiatives taken by Canada in response to the disaster.

• humanitarian aid, including donations, immediately following the disaster itself (Embassy of Canada, Tokyo)
• in June the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service organized a series of seminars throughout Canada, entitled “Japan: Still Open for Business“
• on June 23, Canada lifter all additional restrictions on food imports from Japan and was the first country to do so

While so much of world politics seems to be determined by competitive pursuit of seemingly clear (material) national interests through Realpolitik today, it was clear in our discussions that Japanese policy-makers have taken clear note of these Canadian initiatives. These initiatives have thus very much become part of the context in which trade negotiations may be unfolding in the future.