No country feels China’s rise more deeply than Japan. Through intricate case studies of visits by politicians to the Yasukuni Shrine, conflicts at the East China Sea boundary, concerns about food safety, and strategies of island defense, In a discussion with National Committee President Stephen Orlins, Sheila Smith explores the policy issues testing the Japanese government as it navigates its relationship with China. She finds that Japan’s interactions with China extend far beyond negotiations between diplomats to include an array of social actors intent on influencing the Sino-Japanese relationship. At a National Committee event on May 11, 2015 in New York City, Sheila Smith discussed her book Intimate Rivals and the implications of the Sino-Japanese relationship on U.S.-China relations.Dr. Smith is a regular contributor to the CFR blog Asia Unbound, and frequent contributor to major media outlets in the United States and Asia. She joined CFR from the East-West Center in 2007, where she directed a multinational research team in a cross-national study of the domestic politics of the U.S. military presence in Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines.The National Committee on U.S.-China Relations is the leading nonprofit nonpartisan organization that encourages understanding of China and the United States among citizens of both countries.