Modern Japanese Diplomacy

Faculty

KITAOKA, Shinichi

Credit / Semester / Schedule / Language

2 Credits / Winter / Friday Period: 3 / English

Objectives/Overview

An analysis of Japanese foreign policy since the end of World War II.
Much attention will be paid to the domestic constraints particularly of power politics among the politicians and foreign policy leaders. It is desirable to have basic understanding of Japan’s prewar diplomacy since Mathew Perry and of domestic politics of Japan after the war.

Keywords

Constitution, San Francisco Peace Treaty, US-Japan Security Treaty, Okinawa Reversion, ODA, United Nations

Schedule

Lectures will be given mainly along the historical development, but along the issues in some cases as shown below.
1. Occupation, New Constitution and the Tokyo International Military Tribunal.
2. Rearmament and the Independence.
3. After Independence: China, South East Asia, and the Soviet Russia.
4. Diplomacy during the Era of Rapid Economic Growth.
5. Okinawa Reversion.
6. Facing the New Challenges: “Nixon Shocks” and the Oil Crisis.
7. Japan in the G7 Summit.
8. After Vietnam: Approaches to the South East Asia.
9. The New Cold War and the Trade Disputes with the US.
10. New Challenges in Security Policy.
11. Changing ODA Policy.
12. Historical Memory and Reconciliation.
13. Policy toward the United Nations.

Teaching Methods

60-70 minutes will be for the lecture, the rest for discussion.

Grading

Two reports and the final exam.

Required Text

None

Reference Books

Yutaka Kawashima, Japanese Foreign Policy at the Crossroads: Challenges and Options for the Twenty-First Century, Brookings Institution Press, 2003.
Makoto Iokibe, ed., The Diplomatic History of Postwar Japan, Routledge, 2010.

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