Japan's Foreign Policy in the Twenty-First Century

This edited collection analyzes the innovative changes in Japan’s foreign policy. Pursuing new relationships with South Asia, Africa, and Eastern Europe, Japanese initiatives include regional peace-building and human security activities, Asian multilateralism, and the Indo-Pacific concept. This collection focuses on these evolving international relationships through Japan’s unique approach to political change and continuity.

This collection of essays makes a persuasive case that Japanese policy, since the beginning of this century, is a story of important changes made while retaining continuity with the foreign policy strategy of the preceding decades. No less importantly, it introduces the reader to an international group of astute scholars and policy analysts with impressive insights about Japanese politics and foreign policy and its evolving role in the international system.

Purnendra Jain is adjunct professor of Japanese studies at the University of Adelaide.Lam Peng Er is senior research fellow at the East Asian Institute of the National University of Singapore.