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In 2019, the prime ministers of the Nordic countries announced their joint vision of leading the most sustainable and integrated region in the world by 2030. While public opinion on EU integration has been divided in the Nordic countries, there is broad support for closer intra-Nordic collaboration. The paper asks whether this new vision is likely to lead to closer collaboration on the foreign policy front. To answer, trends in Nordic policies and strategies towards the wider world are studied and three joint initiatives centred on Japan are analysed to see how some of these policies have played out in practice. On the one hand, the cases demonstrate a variety of processes and formats for Nordic collaboration. On the other hand, they demonstrate how well Nordic collaboration can work in a remote, yet strategic market like Japan, not only as an abstract idea, but also in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interruption of Japan's foreign relations, which has lasted since the beginning of the 7th century, was interrupted by the signing of the treaty of Kanagawa and the seizure of power by the emperor Mutsuhito, who called his reign the Meiji period, or „Enlightened rule.” It was during this period that the foundations for modernization of today's sophisticated Japan were laid. Japan begins to open up to the world, but it retains its independence, combining tradition and modernism in all segments. The journey and the exchange of ideas that have inspired many literary works, not only by the French writer Pierre Loti, on whose work this paper is partially based, then artistic ideas and artefacts, aim to explore the author of this paper, which focuses on the presentation of elements of Japanese art and culture at the Exibition Universelle in Paris, 1867.The analytical-comparative method used in this paper shows the remarkable place of Japan in the cross-section that transported silk from the Mediterranean to East Asia, which has become a symbol of the connection between East and West and metaphors for various myths and legends from previous periods, and today the link between western and eastern cultural development models, whose proximity and distance are constantly changing, leaving a strong mark on all societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the preparation and documentation activities of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (JMOFA) for the San Francisco Peace Treaty of 1951. Between 1946 and 1949, JMOFA produced seven volumes of pamphlets on territorial issues in the preparation process leading up to the peace treaty. Among them, a series of four pamphlets under the title of Minor Islands Adjacent to Japan Proper was published. These pamphlets were distributed to the Allied Powers to good effect. Focus was placed on the Southern Kuriles, Ryukyus, and Liancourt Rocks (Dokdo), which Japan felt should be recognized as Japanese territory by the Allies. After the San Francisco Peace Treaty, Japan restored peaceful relations with the United States and its major allies, but hostile relations between Japan and its neighbors in East Asia persisted. It was natural that the Soviet Union (Russia), China, and Korea, excluded from the Peace Treaty, later came to engage in territorial disputes with Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Debates contribute to the development of science and technology. This is also the case with geomorphology, and past geomorphological debates in countries like Japan were often related to concepts and methods imported from western countries in Europe and North America, where advanced studies tended to be conducted. Applications of imported ideas often led to debates because some researchers thought the applications were successful, but some others did not, and indicated problems including the neglect of differences in the local environment between Japan and the West. Therefore, the history of geomorphological debates in Japan is not a mere national issue but informative in discussing international exchange of geomorphological thoughts and global diversity in geomorphological environments. This paper provides a review of geomorphological debates in Japan with attention to geomorphic processes, climates, tectonics, research principles, and international geomorphology. The examined representative debates concern 1) effects of glaciers versus mass movements and running water, 2) effects of periglacial processes versus mass movements and running water, 3) effects of tectonics versus climates, and 4) descriptive/historical geomorphology versus process geomorphology. Classic geomorphological studies in Japan, mostly published in Japanese and, thus, not well-known to international communities, are introduced here. The relations with international geomorphology are also discussed in relation to the progress and consequences of the geomorphological debates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on analysing the positions of Great Britain and selected Dominions (Canada, Australia and New Zealand) towards Japan in the 1920s and early 1930s. It particularly focuses on the circumstances of the establishment of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance and the questions raised in relation to British attempts at extending the alliance in 1921. In the end, international circumstances and the treaties signed at the Washington Conference led to the end of the alliance. The Far Eastern Crisis of 1931-1932 repeatedly forced British and Dominion, especially Australian, representatives to take a position on Japanese foreign policy and Tokyo's aspirations. When the endeavour to deal with the disputes at the League of Nations failed, Australia decided to send a special mission led by Sir John Greig Latham to the Far East and the Pacific in order to consolidate friendly relations with neighbouring countries and attempt to solve mutual problems and conflicts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]