GGR will hold a Talk Session as below:

▪️ Title: Professional Awakening from Political Crisis

▪️ Speaker: Eric Lai (Senior Fellow, Georgetown University Law Center)

▪️ Discussants: Tomoko Ako (Professor, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo) Makoto Tajimi (Professor, Graduate School of Law, Hitotsubashi University)

▪️ Date: December 12, 2025 (Friday)
▪️ Time: 13:30-15:00
▪️ Place: Kunitachi Campus, Hitotsubashi University (Venue will be notified after pre-registration) ▪️ Language: English

▪️Pre-registration: https://forms.gle/MwjSDvL61ngZD8Vd7

About the speaker:

Eric Lai: Dr Eric Lai is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Asian Law, Georgetown University Law Center. He studies and writes on law and society, judicial politics, human rights and national security in hybrid and authoritarian regimes. His recent works include “The Origin of Hong Kong’s New National Security Law” (〈香港新国家安全法の顛末 <https://www.iwanami.co.jp/book/b648209.html> 〉,《世界》，2024年7月号) and Resistance Through the Cracks: Resistance through the Cracks: Understanding Hong Kong’s Rule by Law and Resistance in the Courtroom in Comparative Perspective (在夾縫中抵抗：從依法治國與司法抗爭的比較經驗看香港, 2024 ), and his academic publications can be found in the Journal of Communist and Post-Communist Studies, the Journal of Asian and African Studies, Hong Kong Law Journal and Taiwan Human Rights Journal. Legal Resistance Under Authoritarianism is his third book and first research monograph.

Tomoko Ako: Born in Osaka in 1971, Ako is a professor at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the University of Tokyo. After studying at Osaka University of Foreign Studies and Nagoya University, she obtained a Ph.D. in Education from the University of Hong Kong. After working as a research fellow at the Japanese Embassy in China and in Waseda University as an associate professor, she has been in her current position since 2020. Her major publications include Hong Kong: The City in Tears (2020), Country that Devours its Poor: A Warning from China’s Divided Society (2014), and China The Superpower and The Rising People (2016, co-author).

Makoto Tajimi: Dr. Makoto Tajimi is a professor at the Graduate School of Law, Hitotsubashi University. Born in Shimane Prefecture, he obtained his doctoral degree from the Graduate School of Law, Waseda University (Ph.D. in Law). Dr. Tajimi’s research interests span from Chinese laws (constitutional law, administrative law, criminal law, and civil law) to Chinese (Communist Party) governing system and philosophy. His main publications include Rule of Law in Chinese Dream: How it Came to be and Where it will Go (2019, SEIBUNDO Publishing), Law, Society and History of China (2017, co-editor, SEIBUNDO Publishing), and Vital Issues in Chinese Law (2017, co-author, University of Tokyo Press).

We are looking forward to your participation.

Institute for Global Governance Research (GGR)