The Arctic is becoming a central arena for global strategy, climate policy, and economic competition. At the same time, Japan has emerged as a quiet but capable actor in Arctic affairs with distinct interests and approaches. Yet understanding between Japan and the Arctic states on regional issues remains limited.
To bridge this gap, we are launching the 2026 Series on Japan in the Arctic; a research and commentary initiative aimed at explaining the Arctic to Japanese audiences and Japan’s Arctic thinking to Arctic policymakers, experts, and stakeholders. We welcome contributions from scholars, analysts, policymakers, and business leaders that help advance this dialogue.
Submissions may explore Japan’s foreign policy and strategic decision-making particularly as it relates to the Arctic. Topics may include the historical foundations of Japan’s involvement with the Arctic in the context of its current priorities in the region, the Arctic’s place in Tokyo’s grand strategic thinking and the link between the North Pacific and the Arctic, and how Japanese commercial and industrial actors shape Tokyo’s Arctic engagement. Contributors should also examine Japan’s view on regional governance (e.g., the Arctic Council, and The Asian 3 Club) and its evolving relationships with the EU, the Nordic countries, Russia, the US, and Canada. We also encourage analysis of how Japan is viewed in the Nordic region, Canada, Russia and the US; strategically, commercially, and in broader foreign policy terms.
We welcome authors from any discipline, profession, or education level. Contributors can submit a commentary (a 700–800-word short opinion or analysis piece), an article (a 1,000-3,000-word analysis), or a multimedia contribution (we have published videos, audio, infographics, and poetry) focusing on polar disaster risk reduction and response.
If you are interested in contributing, please submit an abstract of no more than 150 words, as well as a short paragraph about yourself to the series editor Nima Khorrami (nima.khorrami@thearcticinstitute.org), copying TAI editor-in-chief Alina Bykova (alina.bykova@thearcticinstitute.org) by August 1, 2025, 23:59 EST.
You can read more about the Arctic Institute here at www.thearcticinstitute.org and specifically about submissions here. In addition to our web-based publications, we have a weekly newsletter of over 5,000 subscribers from 90+ countries and average hundreds of thousands of web-publication hits each month.