Japan In A Dynamic Asia

Japan in a Dynamic Asia examines a new phenomenon in Japanese foreign policy: Japan's increasing activism under the Koizumi administration. Behind this policy shift are the end of the Cold War, drastic growth of China, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and new transnational security threats. This book updates our understanding of Japan's rapidly changing foreign policies in the contexts of the new regional power balance and security concerns. Unlike most books on Japanese foreign policy, which focus mainly on U.S.-Japan relations, this book analyzes Japan's relations with individual Asian countries and sub-regions. The role of the United States - when relevant - is discussed in the contexts of these bilateral and multilateral relations. Editors Yoichiro Sato and Satu Limaye have gathered an impressive array of essays that will interest students of Japanese politics, foreign policy, and international relations in the Asia-Pacific region.

This collection takes a unique country-by-country approach to examine Japan's relations with individual Asian countries and sub-regions. As Japan's activism increases under the Koizumi administration, Japan in a Dynamic Asia provides a timely, updated understanding of Japan's rapidly changing foreign policies in the contexts of the new regional power balance and security concerns.

Published in 1998, this book examines the challenges and opportunities for international business and trade in the Asia-Pacific region, highlighting the dynamic and complexities of the region.

Proceedings of the 7th Asian Security Conference, held at New Delhi in January 2005.

Have Japan's relative economic decline and China's rapid ascent altered the dynamics of Asian regionalism? Peter Katzenstein and Takashi Shiraishi, the editors of Network Power, one of the most comprehensive volumes on East Asian regionalism in the 1990s, present here an impressive new collection that brings the reader up to date. This book argues that East Asia's regional dynamics are no longer the result of a simple extension of any one national model. While Japanese institutional structures and political practices remain critically important, the new East Asia now under construction is more than, and different from, the sum of its various national parts. At the outset of a new century, the interplay of Japanese factors with Chinese, American, and other national influences is producing a distinctively new East Asian region.

Contributed articles presented at an international seminar.

The central puzzle in the study of Japanese foreign policy has been why Japan has continued to play a passive role in international affairs, despite its impressive economic and political power. Challenging this central puzzle, the core argument of this study is to present an alternative path for the study of Japanese foreign policy. In fact, in recent years Japanese foreign policy has become less dependent on the United States, more strategic towards Asia, and more energetic towards international and regional institutions. One of the main features is multilateralism in Japanese foreign policy, as shown by Japan’s active participation in the regional institutions. In pursuing multilateralism, Japan cooperated closely with the only durable regional body in Southeast Asia, to wit, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Given the fact that East Asian regionalism has been driven by ASEAN, it is of utmost urgency to investigate the emerging partnership between Japan and ASEAN. The central thesis of this study is thus to put Japan’s ASEAN policy into a proper perspective by asserting that Japan’s new policy initiatives towards ASEAN are not reactive, nor are they exceptions in a broader framework of merely reactive foreign policy.

Asia was probably the biggest economic sensation of the post-war decades. The breathtaking success of Japan was followed by a remarkable rise of "four tigers", then ASEAN founder states and then China. The Asian miracle became a commonly accepted definition of this success. In the late 1970s and especially 80s it became clear that the balance of power in the world had changed. Politicians, businessmen, scholars began to talk about "the new Asia Pacific age" and Asian economic model, different from and, maybe, even superior to Western capitalism. However, in 1997-98 the Asian economic crisis came and made the region a sick man. Six years before that Japan, the regional powerhouse entered more than a decade-long period of stagnation. The miracle was over. However, the crisis was overcome within a surprisingly short period of time. Naturally, the question arises: What now? What is going on in the region after the miracle and after the crisis? What is today's face of Asian capitalism and how should we view its performance? Readers interested in regional developments will find a lot of literature about miracle decades and crisis years. However, few analysts have addressed the challenging questions addressed in this book. The authors vividly show that Asian capitalism is undergoing a radical structural transformation. These changes are directly affecting its key institutions: governments, companies, labor relations, etc. As a result Asian economic systems are becoming much closer to the Western-style, especially Anglo-Saxon capitalism, though the region retains some important specific features, especially regarding business culture. This book is a must for business people worldwide, for all those who study the region in colleges and business schools, for people engaged in various international activities and, finally, for all those who want learn more about our world at the dawn of the new century.