March/April 2021 (ISSUE 236) VOLUME 40 No.2

Geopoliticswith thePandemic

COVER STORY

Geopolitics with the Pandemic
4C O N T E N T S
1

PUBLISHER’S NOTE“Without the Trust of the People, There Can Be
No Government” – from the Analects of Confucius
By Kazumasa Kusaka

2

COVER LEAD

Geopolitics with the Pandemic
By Naoyuki Haraoka

4

COVER STORY

33 SPECIAL INTERVIEWInterview with Barbara Ubaldi, Acting Head of the Public GovernanceDirectorate of the OECD

Digital Governments – How to Design Them to Meet theNeeds of a Data-Driven Economy
By Japan SPOTLIGHT

SPECIAL ARTICLE

37 1 The Pandemic’s Impact on Central Europe in aHistorical Perspective
By Krassen Stanchev

41 2 SARC 2020 Conference: New Directions in Economy,
Health & Education During the Pandemic
By Mukesh Williams

45 JAPANESE VENTURES & THE FUTURE OF THE ECONOMYInterview with Shinya Murai, Project Team Manager for Promotion ofQKD Business, Katsuro Ejima, Project Team Sub-Manager forPromotion of QKD Business, New Business Development Office, andMinoru Yonezawa, Director of New Business Development Office,Cyber-Physical SystemsxDesign Division, Toshiba Corporation

Japan Developing a New Frontier for the Global
Economy by New Technologies
By Japan SPOTLIGHT

50 CULTURE
Hachioji Geisha During the Corona Pandemic
By Mukesh Williams & Naoyuki Haraoka

NEXT ISSUE
The May/June 2021 issue will highlight “Evolving Capitalism” andoffer readers a variety of thoughts on the evolving capacity ofcapitalism to deal with numerous challenges, including the pandemic.
Our next issue will be published on our website on March 10, 2021.

1 Global Risks & Opportunities Under the“With-Corona” Global Order
The Fourth JEF-KRA Global Risk Symposium– Key Geopolitical Developments in theCurrent Pandemic Situation
By Komatsu Research & Advisory

11 2 Implications of the Pandemic for Capitalism
By Sir Paul Collier

15 3 Impact of the Pandemic on the Korean

Peninsula & East Asia
By Yong Sueng Dong

19 4 Interview with Matthew P. Goodman, Senior Vice President
for Economics, Center for Strategic & International Studies

The Biden Administration’s New Foreign
Policy – a Key Geopolitical Question in thePandemic
By Japan SPOTLIGHT

24 5 A New “Pilot at the Helm” – the Biden

Administration’s Navigation of the US
Energy Sector “Ship”
By Carl Greenfield

29 6 European Ideas About a New World Political

Regime to Tackle the Issue of China
By Andrew Small

53 RECENT JEF ACTIVITY
JEF’s Online Forums in FY 2020 Searching for Way Outof Hard Times Amid Pandemic
By Naoyuki Haraoka

58 ECONOMIC INDICATORS FOR JAPANImpact of the Coronavirus Pandemic on Railway
Transportation
By Nobuo Iizuka

Publication date: March 10, 2021 (Published on the 10th of every odd month)
Publisher: Kazumasa Kusaka, Chairman & CEO, Japan Economic Foundation (JEF)
Editor-in-Chief: Naoyuki Haraoka
Editorial Staff: Masako Watanabe, Asuka Niwa
Design: PRITECH Co., Ltd.

https://www.jef.or.jp/journal/

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The opinions expressed in the articles published in Japan SPOTLIGHT are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Japan Economic Foundation.