Japan, Beyond the Genkan

An Insider’s Guide to the Soft Power, Strong Market, and Social Harmony of America’s Asian Partner

As America’s international policy experiences massive upheaval, and Japan, now being led by its first female prime minister, decides how to answer and advocate for itself, Japan, Beyond the Genkan comes at just the right time.

Part memoir, part diplomatic and political treatise, and part love letter to a culture he lived in as a bicultural and bilingual American, Dr. Walker shares the tools to fully comprehend and appreciate what Japan offers to the United States and the rest of the world today.

He explores Japan’s notions of soft power and social harmony, and the robust markets that help the nation to have global standing as America’s largest investor. In Japan, the genkan is the semi-public lobby entrance that goes into the private space within a house where guests are greeted. 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 the country.

Through the perspective of his life and experience as a global citizen and a leader in the U.S.–Japan space, Dr. Walker reviews the U.S.-Japan relationship as both an outsider and an insider. This is a rich, personal appreciation of Japan that links the head and the heart of the country—and a well-researched plea by a geopolitical expert to continue the U.S.–Japan relationship.

As America’s global role and alliances become ever-more transactional, Japan can no longer count on the United States as its primary strategic anchor. The U.S.–Japan relationship that started eighty years ago as World War II came to a close must now be repositioned because the world in which that alliance was birthed no longer stands, even as Japan’s appeal has never been greater. 

Drawing on its soft power, cultural depth, and history of resilience, Japan must define and act in its own national interest. In some ways, this book also serves as the opening chapter for what is still to come for U.S.–Japan and for all who care intensely about that relationship, whether their interest is personal, cultural, or professional.