"Japanese Foreign Policy in Asia and the Pacific"

edited by Akitoshi Miyashita and Yoichiro Sato

Reviewed by Takahiro Miyao (GLOCOM)

Review:

In this volume, Japanese foreign policy is examined in light of domestic interests, American pressure and regional integration. Various case studies show a variety of outcomes in Japan's foreign policy, which could not be explained solely by U.S. pressure, although that has always been a dominant factor. As University of South Carolina Professor Robert Angel puts it in his foreword, this "volume could hardly arrive at a better time, [as] disarray at the peak of Tokyo's parliamentary political order and the recent change of political party in the U.S. White House have combined to create a sense of fluidity and uncertainty."

There are at least two interesting cases of foreign economic policies explored in this volume. One is Chapter 9, which analyzes determining factors in Japan's cooperation and non-cooperation with the U.S. in the recent Asian financial crisis with focus on the AMF proposal as Japan's independent initiative in the recent Asian financial crisis, to be followed by a phase of Japan's passive support for the U.S.-led financial crisis management. Another interesting case is Chapter 10, which highlights the role of internal bureaucratic infighting within the Ministry of Finance as well as U.S. pressure in shaping Japan's reactive macroeconomic policy since the 1980s.

Akitoshi Miyashita is Assistant Professor of International Relations at Tokyo International University. He is author of "Gaiatsu and Japan's Foreign Aid: Rethinking the Reactive-Proactive Debate." Yoichiro Sato is Lecturer of Political Science at Auckland Univerisity.

The following is a description of the book, posted at the publisher's website:
www.palgrave-usa.com/catalogue/catalogue.asp?Title_Id=0-312-23920-3

Description:
"Japanese Foreign Policy in Asia and the Pacific provides a broad framework for examining Japan's foreign policy. Leading scholars look at convergence and divergence of interests among Japanese and American policy actors, governmental and non-governmental, as well as domestic and transnational actors. The contributors examine the role of US pressure and its interaction with Japan's domestic and Japan-based transnational actors' interests through geographically and thematically focused case studies on foreign aid, economic policy, and military security."

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