Professional Affiliation

Associate Professor of International Relations, Fukushima University, Japan

Expert Bio

Akira Kurosaki is Associate Professor at Fukushima University. He specializes in International Relations and International History and received his Ph.D. from Tohoku University. He has written extensively on the history of Japan’s nuclear policy, Japan-US relations, and arms control and disarmament. He won the 2006 Suntory Prize for Social Sciences and Humanities (Political Science and Economics Section), with his book in Japanese, Kakuheiki to Nichi-Bei kankei: Amerika no kaku fukakusan gaikō to Nihon no sentaku 1960-1976 [Nuclear Weapons and Japan-US Relations: US Nuclear Non-proliferation Diplomacy and Japan’s Choice 1960—1976] (Tokyo: Yushisha, 2006).

 

 

Wilson Center Project

The Politics of Nuclear Energy and Non-Proliferation in Japan–U.S. Relations in the 1950s and 1960s: A Case Study of Bilateral Nuclear Cooperation and Its Impact on Nuclear Proliferation

Project Summary

This research project presents an in-depth historical analysis of bilateral civilian nuclear cooperation between Japan and the United States in the 1950s and 1960s. At that time, the United States opposed the proliferation of nuclear weapons, and yet, as the leader of the West with advanced nuclear technology, promoted the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. In fact, the United States was a major supplier of nuclear assistance. On the other hand, Japan, a major U.S. ally, remained a non-nuclear weapon state under the U.S. nuclear umbrella and worked on civilian nuclear energy development with the assistance of the United States and other countries. In the late 1960s, however, Japan was acquiring the technological capability to produce nuclear weapons through its civilian nuclear program. In view of these historical developments, this project aims to examine how and under what conditions U.S. nuclear assistance affected Japan’s nuclear policy choices.

Major Publications

• Publication OneAkira Kurosaki, Kakuheiki to Nichi-Bei kankei: Amerika no kaku fukakusan gaikō to Nihon no sentaku 1960-1976 [Nuclear Weapons and Japan-US Relations: US Nuclear Non-proliferation Diplomacy and Japan’s Choice 1960—1976] (Tokyo: Yushisha, 2006).
• Publication TwoAkira Kurosaki, "The Development of Nuclear Energy and Nuclear Weapons Potential: A Historical Analysis of Japan in the 1960s," The Nonproliferation Review, forthcoming.
• Publication ThreeAkira Kurosaki, "Japanese Scientists’ Critique of Nuclear Deterrence Theory And Pugwash, 1954–1964," The Journal of Cold War Studies, forthcoming.