Japan S Subnational Governments In International Affairs

This book moves away from the common belief that Japan’s international relations are firmly the preserve of the national government in Japan’s highly centralised political system. Examining examples of subnational governments (SNGs) across Japan the book uncovers a significant and generally unrecognised development in Japanese politics: SNGs are ever more dynamic international actors as national borders ‘weaken’ across the world. Exploring what Japanese SNGs do, where they do it, and why, the book considers the implications of these factors for Japan’s international relations and domestic politics. By bringing to light the scope and consequences of the international actions of Japan’s SNGs, this book provides a more accurate and nuanced understanding of the country's foreign policy, at a time when it is pursuing a broader and more active profile in international affairs.

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

The twenty contributors and the editors provide new insights into the domestic consequences of global interdependence by examining emerging strategies for dealing with environmental concerns, urban problems, infrastructure investments, financial policies, and human services issues.

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 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.

Japanese Foreign Policy in Asia and the Pacific aims to provide a broadened framework for examining Japan's foreign policy making by looking at conversion and diversion of interests among Japanese and American policy actors. These include governmental and non-governmental as well as domestic and transnational actors. Utilizing this theoretical framework, the contributors examine the role of U.S. pressure and its interaction with Japan's domestic and Japan-based transnational actors' interests through geographically or thematically focused case studies from Asia and the Pacific regions.