Search

Trilateral security cooperation among Japan, Australia and the United States has accelerated over the last few years, with the first foreign ministerial meeting held in early 2006. Not unexpectedly, the new cooperation between Canberra, Tokyo, and Washington is often characterized as a revival of Containment (against China, this time) or a mini-NATO in Asia. The paper will examine this latest development in East Asia’s security relations, with a specific focus on Japanese policymaking. The concept of a democratic state as one form of state identity will be given particular attention for understanding Tokyo’s attitude toward trilateral security cooperation, as well as the new security order in Asia. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores contemporary multilayered processes and the gradual development of shared norms, principles, and targets with regard to energy security among China, Japan and the United States, at both the bilateral and multilateral level, behind a seemingly worsening energy rivalry. It examines the degree to which the three powers have acquired knowledge of multiple aspects of energy security, yet still found common interests―for instance the diversification of energy sources and energy conservation―, and its implication for the future regional cooperation, regardless of their independent national energy strategies.Against the backdrop of widespread “resource nationalism” in major supplying countries and growing global concerns about the availability of hydrocarbon resources and volatile energy markets, it can be hypothesized that China, Japan, and the United States―three big energy consumers― would increasingly find grounds for cooperation simultaneously while they compete for energy equities in some cases. For example, technology transfers in the fields of energy conservation and environmentally-friendly use of energy have become one of mushrooming industries in Sino-Japanese business despite the virtually deadlocked East China Sea dispute. The United States and China have begun talks on the promotion of ethanol production, clean use of coal for power generation, technological assistance for nuclear power plant, etc. Energy dialogues among the three countries have also been bolstered by various multilateral frameworks, including the Asia-Pacific Partnership since June 2004 and the annual meeting of five energy ministers, involving India and South Korea since December 2006.Policymakers and scholars have debated whether the rise of China will pose a threat and destabilize the power configurations of the Asia-Pacific. (Neo-)realists assume that the increase in material capabilities would enable Beijing to seek hegemonic power more vigorously: a geopolitical zero-sum game would be likely to escalate between China on the one hand and Japan and the United States on the other. Neoliberal institutionalists suppose that establishing some form of institutional structure would ameliorate conflicts of material interests, leading to a positive-sum game.The author sheds light on the social construction process of ideas at both diplomatic and energy experts’ levels in the three countries, implying that reckless competition over energy resources would lead only to the advantage of supplying countries and cooperation would more effectively serve energy security as a whole. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Japan’s record of responses to international systemic transformation is mixed. While her position in the 19th Century multi polar world system changed from a marginal state at the opening of Japan in 1853 to one of 4 permanent members of the League of Nations’ Council, Japan obviously failed to adjust the international environment during the interwar period, as her unconditional surrender to the Allied Powers in 1945 shows. And since she became one of major economic powers, Japan’s response under the cold war can be considered as successful. On the other hand, understood from such features as her poor economic performance and weak NGO activities, Japan’s response to the post cold war systemic transformation appears to be not successful. The purpose of this paper is to explain Japan’s post cold war international behavior. After identifying international systemic and domestic level factors which are critical in determining a country’s successful and/or failed response to international systemic transformation, Japan’s behavior under the post cold war systemic transformation will be scrutinized. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The April 2007 visit by Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao to Japan highlights new opportunities for cooperation between China and Japan to address challenges of globalization, such as pollution and rising demand for energy, yet progress in their relations has been uneven. Until recently China’s approach to globalization largely focused on its economic benefits and assumed that the Chinese state would be able to manage the process. Increasingly Chinese leaders and scholars are calling attention to the numerous non-traditional security challenges facing their country. The problems of economic globalization and non-traditional security are linked, however, as China’s dramatic growth creates unintended non-traditional security consequences for its neighbors, as well as its own citizens.This paper argues that, even if its rise is peaceful, China’s development creates unintended environmental consequences such as trans-boundary air pollution and rising demand for energy, which create risk for its neighbors. The paper examines China’s environmental risk management and its impact on Sino-Japanese relations, using a conceptual framework based on the work of European theorists of risk, particularly German sociologist Ulrich Beck’s World Risk Society. This research reveals a pattern of cooperation in addressing air pollution, but greater competition over energy. Why is there cooperation in the environmental area? Why has competition been more prevalent over energy? The paper argues that several factors shape the impact of environmental risk in China’s relations with Japan, including the urgency of the risk involved, the nature of risk management, state-society relations, and the securitization of risk. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is there any Japanese IR? The purpose of this paper is, on opposite sides of the first and second speaker (IKEDA and SHIMIZU), to give a negative answer to the ‘Japanese IR Questions’.During the Cold War, especially in 1960s, there was the cut and thrust of debate between two leading IR scholars over whether or not Japan should re-consider the modality of Japan-U.S. alliance. Whereas Yoshikazu SAKAMOTO (University of Tokyo) argued that Japan should not form the alliance with the U.S. because of possible negative impacts of ‘balance of power’, Masataka KOUSAKA (Kyoto University) brought forward a counter-argument that Japan should maintain the military alliance taking into account of possible positive impacts of ‘balance of power’. Since then, Japanese IR scholars have labeled Prof. SAKAMOTO as an ‘idealist’ and Prof. KOUSAKA as a ‘realist’. Yet the paper tries to de-construct this dichotomy itself between ‘idealist’ and ‘realist’ that established in the debate, by pointing out that both Prof. SAKAMOTO and KOUSAKA can be classified into the category of ‘classical realism’. This paper would not deny that Japan has a peculiarity in the study of IR, but contend that there was no Japanese IR. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A shift from active pursuit of multilateral security framework in East Asia to enhancement of the U.S.-Japan alliance has characterized Japanese security policy during the last decade. Despite this shift, Japan has continued to diversify its security partners in East Asia. This paper will describe a broad range of Japan’s security cooperation with ASEAN countries and analyze the drivers of such cooperation. In doing so, the paper intends to seek a nuanced and empirically grounded explanation of Japanese security policy. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Japan?s quest for regional order-building has a mixed historical record. During the first half of the 20th century, the country pursued its vision of a Japan-centered regional order, termed as the Grater East Asia Co-prosper Sphere, excluding the United States, only to bring total catastrophe to the region. Four decades later in the early 1990s, it conceptualized the ?multi-tiered? structure of regional security, with the US-Japan alliance as the linchpin, and rather quietly promoted it with some success. Despite such stark contrasts, the two instances show one commonality?Japan was an ascending power. With this backdrop, the paper examines Japan?s current attitude toward the question of the emerging regional order. Is Japan, now far from being an ascending power thanks to decade-long economic stagnation, and in the face of a new, rapidly ascending power, China, still committed to regional order-building? If so, does Japan still maintain a ?multi-tiered? regional order, in which the position of China is unspecified. Or has the country conceived of a new kind of regional order to reflect the current power balance in Asia? Through addressing these questions, the paper seeks to articulate the factors that shape Japan?s perspective of a regional security order and assess the possible implications for the country?s relations with other regional countries, especially China, overall intra-regional relations, and the ongoing discussion on the recently proposed East Asian Community. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Japan’s foreign policy identity, which has been formed through the past several centuries as the country began to experience contacts with the outside world, has been experienced the intense challenges in the past few decades, and those challenge continue under the current U.S.-dominated world order of the post 9/11. Having accomplished the goal of becoming a major international power, Japan began to encounter flood of external forces including international political pressures, foreign workers and businesses, and expectations both from within and outside to be more active in external matters. By focusing the most recent of such challenges in the post 9/11 world, the paper examines how Japan’s identity plays a large part in understanding its reactions to the current changes of events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the causes and consequences of dust storms called ‘yellow dragon,’ reviews efforts of regional countries (Korea, Japan, China and Mongolia) to combat the problem, and assesses the effectiveness of the current desertification regime in ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to explore a reasonable model for security cooperation in an “East Asian community.” Today, the countries of Asia â€" including the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), China, Japan and India â€" are eag ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the paths to Sino-Japanese reconciliation, which has yet to come more than 60 years after the war. I propose the concept of deep interstate reconciliation (DIR), which means two states share the understanding that war is unthinkable and hold generally warm feelings about each other. Realists would equate reconciliation with political and military cooperation that should occur when states share common strategic interests. But China and Japan failed to reach DIR in the 1970s-80s when they shared the security goal of counterbalancing the Soviet threat. Using the comparison of Sino-Japanese relations with German-Polish relations since the 1970s, I argue security motivations are neither sufficient nor necessary conditions for DIR; the key to realizing DIR is the harmonization of the national memories between the parties involved. From the 1970s, China and Japan only brushed aside their historical legacy to make way for diplomatic normalization, only to see history disputes erupt from the 1980s that poisoned bilateral ties. In contrast, West Germany and Poland narrowed their memory divergence through restitution measures and textbook cooperation, which created a strong sense of closeness and trust. Coupled with other positive factors like European integration and Poland’s democratization, these efforts paved the way for the eventual German-Polish reconciliation in the 1990s. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Japan has played a significant role in the formulation of climate change policies from the early stages of international discussions. Throughout the process, Japan developed her own domestic norms, and responded notably to the influence of international norms. The paper identifies the domestic norms, and then examines how these norms have been defined, adopted, acted on, and redefined. Socially constructed realities of what is climate change in Japan are extracted from three stage analysis of (i) UNFCCC, (ii) Kyoto-Protocol, and (iii) Post-Kyoto. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current debate about the Kyoto Protocol and global climate changes demonstrates the most fundamental challenge behind global political initiatives: mobilizing national interests in the service of a broader, world-wide agenda. Japan played an importan ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on a study that examines the rationales and substance of the redefined U.S.-Japan alliance. It cites the implications of the 1997 Revised Guidelines for the U.S.-Japan Defense Cooperation and the 2005 Joint Statement of the U.S.-Japan Security Consultative Committee for regional security issues, particularly a contingency in the Taiwan Strait. It examines the special role that Japan plays in the U.S. security strategy in the region.

The article discusses the role of the Japan's Official Development Assistance (ODA) in establishing cooperative security in Northeast Asia. It explains that the idea of cooperative security involves cooperation based on the definition of scholars Ashton B. Carter, William J. Perry and John D. Steinbuner. The strategy of cooperative security as a realistic approach is also tackled. It argues that the ODA can establish its security through bilateral and regional relations in the region.

That China has been politically and economically playing an important role in the world has great impact to regions all over the world, especially in East Asia. After the Cold War, Japan has gradually walked out of its past "one nation pacifism," actively participating in the international affairs under frameworks of "U.S.-Japan alliance" and the U.N. It is to fulfill its dream of becoming a "political great power." Therefore, Japan has also been playing an important role in the regional issues. On November 2002, North Korea decided to reactivate its uranium-enriching program. It has raised the tension in the region of East Asia; it has also disturbed international relations in the region. The U.S. expects China and Japan, two great powers in the Northeast Asia, intervene in the North Korea problem, hoping to solve the problem with multi-literal agreement. Can the North Korea nuclear crisis shorten the diplomatic distance between China and Japan, establishing the "military strategic partnership," or showing the radical paradox between the two countries? Examining interactions between China and Japan in the North Korea nuclear crisis can clarify the thinking of two countries' regional strategies and benefits of competition and cooperation in politic, security, and economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discusses the involvement of Japan in regional integration and Asian crisis management, with a particular focus on the case study of Thailand. The factor that force Japan to involve in rescuing the crisis-devastated economies lies in a growing economic integration and interdependence of the continent. Also demonstrated is the emergence of Asian regionalism under Japanese economic leadership. It adds that the government of Japan showed its commitments to industrial transformation in Thailand.

In the wake of the Asian financial crisis, Japan has made a significant foreign economic policy shift in the way in which it approaches Asian regional institutional building in financial and monetary cooperation. Prior to the Asian financial crisis, Japan ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From its establishment in the late 1940s through the 1950s, the International Whaling Commission (IWC), failed to regulate whaling in an efficacious manner, thereby the certain number of great whales plummeted to the point where the species was staring ex ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]