Director

Dr Lauren Richardson

Lauren Richardson is a Lecturer in the Department of International Relations and Director of the ANU Japan Institute. From 2018-2020 she was Director of Studies and Lecturer in the Asia-Pacific College of Diplomacy at the ANU. Prior to that Dr Richardson taught Northeast Asian Relations at the University of Edinburgh. Her research focuses on the role of non-state actors in shaping diplomatic interactions in Northeast Asia, particularly Japan-Korea relations. Her publications have focused on the South Korean anti-nuclear movement; the role of Buddhists in Sino-Japanese rapprochement (with G A. Scott);Japan’s evolving defence posture; and the ascension of “comfort women” in South Korean memory of Japanese imperialism (forthcoming). She is currently completing a book manuscript provisionally entitled Reshaping Japan-Korea Relations: Transnational Advocacy Networks and the Politics of Redress.

Deputy director

Associate Professor Carol Hayes

Japanese language; Taisho poet Hagiwara Sakutaro and the ‘modernist’ movement in Japan; Japanese postwar literature and film.

Japan Institute executive 2013-2015

Dr Shiro Armstrong

The Japanese and Chinese economy; Japan-China economic relations; East Asia regional economy 

Associate Professor Simon Avenell

Modern Japanese history; civic activism, civil society, and state-society relations in contemporary Japan; political thought in contemporary Japan; environmental history and environmentalism in contemporary Japan; transnational aspects of contemporary Japanese history; Japan in East Asia.

Mr Shun Ikeda

 Japanese language education, culture and society; comparative education in Asia and in socio-linguistics (language policy and planning)

Associate Professor Duck-Young Lee

Japanese-Korean linguistics; discourse analysis; unique features of spoken language; Japanese language and education; language and culture in Korean diaspora in Australia

Professor Tessa Morris-Suzuki

Professor of Japanese History, Convener of Pacific and Asian History, School of Culture, History & Language

Professor Veronica L. Taylor

Veronica Taylor is Professor of Law and Regulation at ANU in the School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet) and from 2018, Director of the ANU Japan Institute. She previously served as Dean of the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific. Prior to joining ANU in 2010 she was Director of the Asian Law Center at the University of Washington, Seattle and Chair of the American Advisory Committee for the Japan Foundation. Her research focusses on rule of law promotion in Asia.