Gerald L. Curtis

Burgess Professor of Political Science, Department of Political Science; Director, Toyota Research Program, Weatherhead East Asian Institute; Senior Research Fellow at the Tokyo Foundation

Modern Japanese politics, foreign policy, social change, political economy; East Asia international relations

Recognized as a leading scholar on modern Japanese politics and foreign policy and U.S. policy toward Japan and East Asia, Professor Curtis has an extensive list of publications in both English and Japanese. His classes at Columbia have covered Japanese politics, Japanese foreign policy, democracy in East Asia, U.S. policy in East Asia, and comparative political party analysis.

He is the author of The Logic of Japanese Politics and numerous other books and articles published in both English and Japanese on Japanese politics, government, and foreign policy and U.S.-Japan relations. In the spring of 2008 his memoir written in Japanese, Seiji To Sanma: Nihon To Kurashite 45Nen (Politics and Sanma: 45 Years Living With Japan), was publyished by Nikkei BP. In 2009 Columbia University Press issued a paperback version with a new introduction of his classic study of Japanese politics, Election Campaigning Japanese Style.  

He currently divides his time between Columbia University and Tokyo where he is active as a columnist, speaker and writer on Japanese domestic affairs and international relations.

Professor Curtis has held appointments at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House, London; the College de France, Paris; the Lee Kwan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore; and in Tokyo at Keio and Tokyo University, the Research Institute for Economy, Trade and Industry, the Graduate Research Institute for Policy Studies, and the International Institute of Economic Studies.

He is the recipient of numerous prizes and honors including the Chunichi Shimbun Special Achievement Award, the Masayos hi Ohira Memorial Prize, and the Japan Foundation Award . In 2004 Professor Curtis was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star by the Emperor of Japan.

Professor Curtis is a member of the Trilateral Commission, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the board of directors of the US-Japan Foundation and also serves as advisor to numerous public and private organizations in the United States and Japan.

Professor Curtis received his PhD from Columbia in 1969 and, in the same year, joined the faculty. He served as director of the East Asian Institute for a total of twelve years between 1973 and 1991.

Email: glc2@columbia.edu