Japan, Beyond the Genkan: An Insider’s Guide to the Soft Power, Strong Market, and Social Harmony of America's Asian Partner

At a time when America’s international policy is undergoing rapid change, and Japan, having elected its first female prime minister, determines how to respond and assert itself, Japan, Beyond the Genkan couldn’t be more timely.

Part memoir, part diplomatic and political treatise, and part love letter to a society he grew up in as a bicultural and bilingual American, Dr. Walker provides the tools needed to fully understand and appreciate what Japan represents to the United States and to the world today.

He explores Japan’s concepts of soft power and social harmony, and the strong markets that allow the nation to have global relevance as America’s largest investor. In Japan, the genkan is the semi-public lobby entrance leading to the private space within a house where guests are received. Dr. Walker as an adopted dosanko—the title of someone from Hokkaido, Japan—invites us beyond the genkan into a rare insider’s view of Japan.

Through the lens of his life and experience as a global citizen and a leader in the U.S.–Japan space, Dr. Walker examines the U.S.-Japan relationship as both an outsider and an insider. This is a deep, personal appreciation of Japan that connects the head and the heart of the country—and a studied plea by a geopolitical expert to keep the U.S.–Japan relationship strong.

As America’s global role and alliances become increasingly transactional, Japan can no longer rely on the United States as its sole strategic anchor. The U.S.–Japan relationship that began eighty years ago after the end of World War II must now be fundamentally recast because the world in which that alliance was brought to fruition no longer exists, even at a time when Japan’s appeal has never been higher.

Drawing on its soft power, cultural depth, and history of resilience, Japan needs to define and act in its own national interest. In some ways, this book is also the opening chapter for what lies ahead for U.S.–Japan and for everyone who cares deeply about that relationship, whether their interest is personal, cultural, or professional.