Nationalism, Japan, and a Changing Asia

Nationalism, Japan, and a Changing Asia

By Sheila A. Smith (Council on Foreign Relations)

Japan's choices in a changing Asia will define the region's future and will have tremendous impact on United States foreign policy in Asia.

Japanese today, like their neighbors on the Korean peninsula and in China, are grappling with a rapidly changing geopolitical environment. Moreover, as a new generation of leaders comes to the fore, Japanese are also openly debating their postwar experience, asking new questions about what changes may be required to ensure their security and prosperity in this new era.

Japanese politics and Asia's geopolitics now intersect in ways that question Japan's future strategic choices. Will Japan abandon its postwar constitution and pursue a more "normal" military strategy? Will Japanese leaders continue to embrace reconciliation and remembrance in their approach to relations with their Asian neighbors? Will the Japanese people continue to feel secure in the U.S.-Japan security bargain crafted over half a century ago? These are only some of the questions we address in our new podcast series, Nationalism, Japan, and a Changing Asia.

This series contains eight podcasts with experts from Japan and the United States, which were recorded in Tokyo, in Washington, and at times by telephone, in the years since the nations of Northeast Asia commemorated the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. These conversations reveal the complex interaction between geopolitical change in Asia and changing Japanese thinking about their security, their past, and their constitution.

Article: Courtesy Council on Foreign Relations.

CFR's Blogs represent the views of CFR fellows and staff and not those of CFR, which takes no institutional positions.

Photo: Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force tanks take part in an annual training session with Mount Fuji in the background at Higashifuji training field in Gotemba, Japan. Issei Kato/Reuters

NEWS & CURRENT EVENTS

"Nationalism, Japan, and a Changing Asia"