Tsuneo Akaha

Japan's security agenda in the post‐cold war era

Abstract The radically changed regional security environment in the post‐cold war Asia‐Pacific poses serious challenges to Japans security policy. Tokyo must develop a new strategic view of the region to complement its tendency to emphasize security based on economic growth and interdependence. Japans relations with the United States, Russia and China have far‐reaching, long‐term regional security implications, yet Tokyo is barely managing to respond to bilateral political and economic issues as they arise. While the waning of the cold war security threat and budgetary considerations are putting increasing constraints on Tokyos spending for both defence and foreign economic assistance, there are conflicting international demands and fears concerning expanded Japanese international security roles. At the same time, Tokyos desire to participate more actively in United Nations peacekeeping and to gain a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council is hampered by the domestic constitutional debat...

Beyond self‐defense: Japan's elusive security role under the new guidelines for US‐Japan defense cooperation

Abstract During the Cold War, Japans foreign policy was greatly influenced by the strategic policy of the United States. Since the Cold Wars end, US strategic policy has changed significantly, wh...

International cooperation in establishing a regional order in Northeast Asia

Northeast Asia remains largely a geographic referent, not a political entity or even an economic unit. To explore the reasons why this region lags far behind other areas of the world in developing a regional identity and to explore areas where international cooperation is both desirable and possible, the Center for East Asian Studies of the Monterey Institute of International Studies held an international conference in June 1997, with participants from China, Japan, South Korea, Mongolia, Russia, and the United States. This article introduces the presentations and discussion at this conference and explores the prospects for regional cooperation. It identifies historical and contemporary sources of obstacles to regional cooperation, including those in the political, economic, security, and civilizational/cultural realms. It notes the fluidity and uncertainty in major power relations since the end of the Cold War and discusses the regional security implications of growing economic ties among the Northeast Asian countries. It also examines the potentials and limitations of regional cooperation at the nongovernmental level. Finally, it calls for further collaborative international research and discussion of problems, both continuing and emerging, that stand in the way of regional cooperation, particularly the issues of nationalism vs regionalism, political costs of economic interdependence, environmental security, and demographic changes and their economic, political, and security implications for the region.

Asia‐pacific regionalism and northeast Asia Subregionalism∗

Regionalism has increasingly become a growing trend around the world, the Asia-Pacific region being no exception. Both in the security area where the changing balance of power in Asia Pacific, particularly in Northeast Asia is prompting discussions of multilateral security and cooperation in the region, as well as on the economic front where much is being made of the growing international interdependent market integration in the Asia Pacific, such developments can be witnessed. However, very little has been said about the relationship between various schemes for multilateral cooperation within Northeast Asia and that in the broader region of Asia Pacific. The reasons why Northeast Asia has not emerged as a focal point of discussion either in the context of Asia-Pacific political economy or in connection with the Asean process , in addition to what kind of developments would elevate both cooperation among the Northeast Asian countries and the international community to a significant level are the questions that would be addressed in this analysis.

Conservation of the environment of the Seto Inland sea

Abstract Governments everywhere are under pressure to respond promptly to complex problems facing their citizens. The stronger the pressure and the more urgent the problem at hand, the greater will be the incentive for governments to take some action. On the other hand, the more complex the problem and the greater the uncertainty surrounding the nature of the problem and effective solutions to it, the greater will be the inclination of governments to postpone policy response. This case study describes how the Japanese government, under prefectural, regional, and national pressures, developed its response to urgent environmental problems in the Seto Inland Sea marine and coastal areas from a set of ad hoc measures to a provisional policy systematic in intent but lacking in content and eventually to a permanent, systematic, and coordinated—yet incomplete—system of legislative‐administrative measures. The study explains the progressive policy development process and the substantive problems and limitations o...

Japanese policy toward the north Korean problem : Balancing bilateralism and multilateralism

North Korea became an urgent problem for Japan as a result of the 1994 nuclear crisis in North Korea, the 1998 missile launch over Japan and the 2003—4 nuclear crisis. At the historic Tokyo—Pyongyang summit in September 2002, both sides acknowledged the need to solve the security issues surrounding the Korean Peninsula through peaceful, multilateral efforts. However, the issue of North Korean abduction of Japanese citizens in earlier decades intensified Japanese sentiment against the North and this issue halted bilateral normalization talks. Japan has participated in six-party talks on the nuclear issue since 2004, but its distinct bilateral interests vis-à-vis North Korea, South Korea and the United States limit its influence in the multiparty engagement.

Muddling through successfully: Japan's post-war ocean policy and future prospects

Japans national ocean policy in the post-war decades has been shaped by several factors: (1) the nations heavy dependence on ocean space and resources for its economic survival and prosperity; (2) the historical context of the nations post-war political life; (3) the need to balance the nations domestic policy priorities and international policy needs; (4) the need to coordinate its developmental needs and environmental concerns; and (5) the policy-making structure and process. The paper describes how these factors have rendered the nations post-war ocean policies incremental and often ad hoc. Illustrative examples are drawn from the fisheries, shipping, environment, maritime security, and science and technology sectors. The paper then argues that Japan must overcome its sectoral approach to policy making in order to meet successfully the three most critical challenges facing its ocean policy, namely balancing development and environmental needs, coordinating domestic and foreign policy priorities, and playing a leadership role by sharing its experience and expertise.

Internalizing international law: Japan and the regime of navigation under the un convention on the law of the sea

Abstract Once a state decides to accept international legal obligations under customary, conventional, or other international law, it has to identify possible discrepancies between its newly acquired obligations and its existing ones, and, ideally, eliminate any and all inconsistencies. Having decided to accept the new law of the sea as defined by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, Japan is now faced with this need. This article examines the legal effect of the 1982 Convention on Japan, required steps for ratification, the regime of navigation in the territorial sea and straits used for international navigation under the UN Convention, Japans laws and regulations regarding navigation in its coastal waters, and discrepancies between the international and the domestic regime. The article suggests Japans options for eliminating the gaps and assesses possible domestic and foreign policy consequences of the various alternatives identified.

Japan's Security Policy After US Hegemony

The ongoing debate on US hegemonic decline has far-reaching implications for US security relations with Japan. Some argue that both the sagging US economic performance relative to the burgeoning economies of Japan, Western Europe, and even some of the newly industrialising economies, and Washington’s deteriorating ability to sustain its political and security commitments overseas, have caused a precipitous and probably irreversible decline in the US global leadership.1 Others contend that the ‘declinist’ proposition is more imagined than real or that the decline is only a relative and temporary phenomenon, reversible through effective policy measures.

Restructuring Environmental Policy in Japan: The 1990s and Beyond

Japans environmental policy has shifted its focus from domestic pollution control in the 1960s and 70s to global environmental policy initiatives in the 1990s, most visibly demonstrated by its hosting of the Kyoto conference on global warming in 1997. This article reviews the nations effort to restructure its environmental administration and policy since the 1990s and assesses its promises and shortcomings. The discussion includes administrative reform and its impact on environmental policy, Japans domestic and diplomatic responses to global warming, environmental ODA, and the publics environ mental consciousness. It concludes that the administrative restructuring that took place at the beginning of 2001 is but one part of the change Japan needs to undergo in order to realize its goal of sustainable development at home and to live up to the promises its environmental diplomacy has made, including the successful implementation of the Kyoto Protocol.