Now in its third edition.This is a fascinating insider account of postwar Japanese foreign policy written by a former senior Japanese diplomat. The author examines Japanese foreign policy as it approaches a crucial reorientation towards a more proactive policy stance. The book is exceptionally clear, accessible and interesting for anyone interested in modern Japan.

Now in its third edition.This is a fascinating insider account of postwar Japanese foreign policy written by a former senior Japanese diplomat. The author examines Japanese foreign policy as it approaches a crucial reorientation towards a more proactive policy stance. The book is exceptionally clear, accessible and interesting for anyone interested in modern Japan.

"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

Japan's China Policy understands Japan's foreign policy in terms of power - one of the most central concepts of political analysis. It contributes a fresh understanding to the subject by developing relational power as an analytical framework and by applying it to significant issues in Japan's China policy: the negotiations for a bilateral investment protection treaty and the disputed Pinnacle (Senkaku/Diaoyu) Islands. Hagström demonstrates that Japan exerted power over China in such divergent empirical settings for the most part by using civilian instruments positively, defensively and through non-action. Given that Japan's foreign policy is often portrayed rather enigmatically in terms of power, the unique contribution of Japan's China Policy is to demonstrate how to analyze power aspects of Japan's foreign policy in a more coherent fashion. This revealing approach to Japan's foreign policy will be of huge interest to anyone studying Japanese politics, foreign policy or international relations.

A Sudden Rampage describes Japan's occupation of Southeast Asia during World War II in the context of its relationship with the outside world. The first two chapters focus on the period between the Meiji restoration, the end of World War I, the interwar period, and the outbreak of war in the Pacific. Subsequent chapters offer a short narrative of the Pacific conflict and a country by country description of Japan's political activities in the occupied region and economic activities undertaken by the Japanese in wartime Southeast Asia. The concluding chapter assesses the contribution the occupation made to postwar Southeast Asia in the light of the suffering and destruction rendered on the region.

The neutrality pact between Japan and the Soviet Union, signed in April 1941, lapsed only nine months before its expiry date of April 1946 when the Soviet Union attacked Japan. Japan's neutrality had enabled Stalin to move Far Eastern forces to the German front where they contributed significantly to Soviet victories from Moscow to Berlin. Slavinsky suggests that Stalin's agreement with Churchill and Roosevelt to attack Japan after Germany's surrender allowed him to keep Japan in the war until he was ready to attack and thus avenge Russia's defeat in the war of 1904-1905. The Soviet Union's violation of the pact and the detention of Japanese prisoners for up to ten years after the end of the war created a sense of victimization in Japan to the extent that there is still no formal Peace Treaty between the two countries to this day. Slavinsky draws on recently opened Russian archival material to demonstrate that the Soviet Union was passing information about the Allies to Japan during the Second World War. He also persuasively argues that vengeance and the (re)acquistion of land were the primary motives for the attack on Japan. The book contains empirical data previously unavailable in English and will fascinate anyone with an interest in the history of Japan, the Soviet Union and the events of the Second World War.

This publication is the result of a three-year research project between eminent Russian and Japanese historians. It offers an an in-depth analysis of the history of relations between Russia and Japan from the 18th century until the present day. The format of the publication as a parallel history presents views and interpretations from Russian and Japanese perspectives that showcase the differences and the similarities in their joint history. The fourteen core sections, organized along chronological lines, provide assessments on the complex and sensitive issues of bilateral Russo-Japanese relations, including the territory problem as well as economic exchange.

Japan’s decision to attack the United States in 1941 is widely regarded as irrational to the point of suicidal. How could Japan hope to survive a war with, much less defeat, an enemy possessing an invulnerable homeland and an industrial base 10 times that of Japan? The Pacific War was one that Japan was always going to lose, so how does one explain Tokyo’s decision? Did the Japanese recognize the odds against them? Did they have a concept of victory, or at least of avoiding defeat? Or did the Japanese prefer a lost war to an unacceptable peace? Dr. Jeffrey Record takes a fresh look at Japan’s decision for war, and concludes that it was dictated by Japanese pride and the threatened economic destruction of Japan by the United States. He believes that Japanese aggression in East Asia was the root cause of the Pacific War, but argues that the road to war in 1941 was built on American as well as Japanese miscalculations and that both sides suffered from cultural ignorance and racial arrogance. Record finds that the Americans underestimated the role of fear and honor in Japanese calculations and overestimated the effectiveness of economic sanctions as a deterrent to war, whereas the Japanese underestimated the cohesion and resolve of an aroused American society and overestimated their own martial prowess as a means of defeating U.S. material superiority. He believes that the failure of deterrence was mutual, and that the descent of the United States and Japan into war contains lessons of great and continuing relevance to American foreign policy and defense decision-makers.

"Book Abstract and Keywords: The study of Japanese politics has flourished over the past several decades. This Handbook provides a state-of-the-field overview for students and researchers of Japanese. The volume also serves to introduce Japanese politics to readers less familiar with Japan. In addition, the volume has a theme of "evaluating Japan's democracy." Taken as a whole, the volume provides a positive evaluation of the state of Japan's democracy. The volume is divided into two parts, roughly corresponding to domestic Japanese politics and Japan's international politics. Within the domestic politics part, there are four distinct sections: "Domestic Political Actors and Institutions," covering the Japanese Constitution, electoral systems, prime minister, Diet, bureaucracy, judiciary, and local government; "Political Parties and Coalitions," covering the Liberal Democratic Party, coalition government, Kōmeitō, and the political opposition; "Policymaking and the Public," covering the policymaking process, public opinion, civil society, and populism; and, "Political Economy and Social Policy," covering industrial, energy, social welfare, agricultural, monetary, and immigration policies, as well as social inequality. In the international relations part, there are four sections: "International Relations Frameworks," covering grand strategy, international organizations, and international status; "International Political Economy," covering trade, finance, foreign direct investment, the environment, economic regionalism, and the linkage between security and economics; "International Security," covering remilitarization, global and regional security multilateralism, nuclear nonproliferation, naval power, space security, and cybersecurity; and, "Foreign Relations" covering Japan's relations with the United States, China, South Korea, ASEAN, India, the European Union, and Russia. Keywords: international relations, comparative politics, democracy, international order, alliances, space security, elections, Liberal Democratic Party, multilateralism, remilitarization, international organizations, populism, civil society, coalitions, political parties, trade, finance monetary policy, foreign direct investment, cybersecurity"--

African American Encounter with Japan and China: Black Internationalism in Asia, 1895-1945