Japan S Foreign Policy Making

"In this diverse survey, leading experts from Japan, Europe and the USA explore recent developments in Japanese foreign policy, focusing on Japan's position in and towards the fast-changing Asia-Pacific region." "The authors assess the process and practice of foreign policy in the light of Japan's historical legacy in Asia, the huge imbalance between its economic and military power, and its dependence on the US-Japan Security Alliance. The study includes analysis of the formal and informal institutions of policy-making, the impact of public opinion, and relations with the USA, Northeast and Southeast Asia."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1977.

This book evaluates the impact of the 2001 central government reforms on effective foreign policy making in Japan. It puts a special focus on the evolution of the domestic institutional factors and decision-making processes behind Japan’s foreign policy, while also analyzing the development of Japan’s external relations with various other countries, such as the US, China and North Korea. Adhering to the neoclassical realist approach, the authors show that, thanks to a more independent Kantei-based form of diplomacy, Japan’s prime ministers were able to strategically respond to international developments, and to pursue their own diplomatic endeavors more boldly. At the same time, they demonstrate that the effectiveness of this proactive posture was still heavily dependent on the decision-makers’ ability to form cohesive coalitions and select suitable institutional tools, which enabled them to influence domestic and international affairs.

This detailed and lucid volume is an essential resource for students of Asian Studies and International Politics.

The new edition of this comprehensive and user-friendly textbook provides a single volume resource for all those studying Japan's international relations.

"This book stands out amongst the crop of textbooks on Japanese foreign policy that have been available to date, because of its authoritative, insider voice. Here we not only learn what happened in postwar Japan's foreign policy, but what the thinking was behind these decisions. This is an invaluable element that brings the reader inside the policy-making rooms of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs itself. In the process, Japan's world view and its own self-image are concurrently revealed, in fascinating and unexpected ways. This book destroys stereotypes, and vastly improves the quality of our understanding of Japan as an international player. We are spoiled by the wisdom and experience of not just one, but three major forces in the shaping of Japan's international existence. Mr Togo's own formidable experience, plus the seminal contributions of his father and grandfather, who was instrumental in the closing phases of World War II. All of this makes this book indispensable to those who wish to truly understand Japan in her own terms, and through her own eyes."---Rikki Kersten, Professor, Modern Japanese Political History, Australian National University "Ambassador Togo's distinctive account of Japanese foreign policy highlights the impact of the vacuum left by the humiliation of defeat in 1945. It bears witness to the intellectual and diplomatic challenge of finding answers to unresolved issues, including managing the U.S. alliance and enhancing cooperation in Asia. Updated to cover the results of the 2009 victory of the Democratic Party of Japan, this book shows how its change of course fits into a long-term narrative. In contrast to more impersonal, often unsympathetic analysis of Western authors and the self-serving writing of many Japanese, Togo offers a guide to Japan's quest, not a defense of its choices. The result is a wide-ranging look at foreign policy over more than 60 years seen from the perspective of an insider attentive to a proud nation's search for its bearings."---Gilbert Rozman, Musgrave Professor of Sociology, Princeton University

The sudden end of the Cold War took the Japanese foreign policy community by surprise. The Yoshida Doctrine which served Japanese foreign policy so well during the Cold War is no longer a viable foreign policy option. This dissertation examines the restructuring of Japanese foreign policy since the end of the Cold War. Through a series of 56 interviews with Japanese foregin policy elites, the changes in Japanese foreign policy are put into the context of the foreign policy literature.