Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Franz Waldenberger Title: Has the Japanese Economy become More Open? Journal: Japan aktuell - Journal of Current Japanese Affairs Abstract: Statistical analysis indicates that Japan trades less than most other OECD countries even after controlling for economic and natural factors. Border barriers to trade, domestic regulations, peculiar national standards, and business practices cannot explain Japan’s low trade dependency. The paper argues that imports to Japan need to be supported by FDI in sales, marketing and service activities in order to fulfil the high quality and service requirements that Japanese customers have. However, the predominance of internal labour markets presents an important structural barrier to inward FDI. In combination, high quality requirements and structural barriers to FDI could therefore at least partly explain why Japan trades so little. If the argument is correct, attempts by the Japanese government to increase trade and FDI through further deregulation and liberalisation will do little to improve the situation. Pages: 3-21 Volume: 16 Issue: 2 Year: 2008 Handle: RePEc:gig:chaktu:v:16:y:2008:i:2:p:3-21 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Axel Berkofsky Title: True Strategic Partnership or Rhetorical Window Dressing? A Closer Look at the Relationship between the EU and Japan Journal: Japan aktuell - Journal of Current Japanese Affairs Abstract: In their 2001 Action Plan, the EU and Japan committed themselves to jointly tackling today’s problems and issues related to international security, peacekeeping, economics and finance, environmental protection, and development aid. However, the reality of EU-Japan cooperation looks quite different. Focusing on security policy as well as trade and business ties, this paper argues that the balance sheet of seven years of EU-Japan cooperation as formulated in the EU-Japan Action Plan is rather disappointing, leaving many envisioned areas of bilateral cooperation untouched or dealt with only in a superficial and internationally irrelevant way. While the EU currently invests most of its Asia-dedicated financial and diplomatic resources in expanding relations with China, Japan has failed to “diversify” its foreign economic and security policies, with the aim of reducing its dependency on US foreign- and security-policy approaches by expanding foreign- and security-policy cooperation with Europe. To be sure, Brussels and Tokyo cooperated closely on pacifying and reconstructing the war-torn Balkans throughout the 1990s, but working together on the Balkans did not create a basis for sustainable and expanding EU-Japan “soft power” cooperation in global hot spots. Likewise, trade and business ties, although solid and expanding, could be much more dynamic and significant given the EU’s and Japan’s share of the global GDP. Overall, the EU and Japan punch below their weight regarding international political, economic and security cooperation, and realistically, there are no indications that Brussels and Tokyo are willing to invest the necessary political and diplomatic resources to boost bilateral cooperation before the EU-Japan Action Plan expires in 2010. Pages: 22-37 Volume: 16 Issue: 2 Year: 2008 Handle: RePEc:gig:chaktu:v:16:y:2008:i:2:22-37 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Kazuhiko Togo Title: Japan’s Foreign Policy: Achievements and Future Directions Journal: Japan aktuell - Journal of Current Japanese Affairs Abstract: After its colossal defeat in WWII, Japan, on the whole, developed parliamentary democracy successfully. The present-day imbalance in power between the upper house and the lower house may result in the reshuffling of parties after the next lower house election, but the essence of parliamentary democracy will not be affected. Alongside this process of democratization in domestic politics, two contradictions have dominated foreign policy. First, Japan has had to overcome idealistic, passive pacifism. The United States has strongly encouraged this direction. After the end of the Cold War, Japan overcame this contradiction reasonably well – and sometime, somehow the revision of Article 9, the symbol of passive pacifism, will become possible. Second, Japan has had to overcome total negativism regarding pre-WWII Japan. China and Korea initially met this direction with great suspicion, and Japan has gone through a difficult process in this respect, particularly since 1995. But at the moment, Japan’s relations with China and Korea are positive and forward looking. In order to make this direction sustainable, Japan needs to adopt a more proactive policy on historical memory issues. Pages: 38-53 Volume: 16 Issue: 2 Year: 2008 Handle: RePEc:gig:chaktu:v:16:y:2008:i:2:38-53 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Aurélie Klein Title: Japan’s Role in East Asian Integration: On the Way to a New Fukuda Doctrine? Journal: Japan aktuell - Journal of Current Japanese Affairs Abstract: Japan is one of the most active promoters of regional integration in East Asia. The focus on regional policy dates back to the 1977 Fukuda doctrine. This article concentrates mainly on Japan’s commitment to regional projects in the economic and financial sector, which has increased significantly since the 1997 financial crisis. Regarding regional integration, one can distinguish between two main positions in the literature. Firstly, scholars focusing on economic cooperation argue that although Japanese trade policies follow the global trend towards bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs), this development can be seen as a first step towards a multilateral trading regime. Secondly, considering FTAs a stumbling stone of a common regional structure, monetary approaches see the potential gains mainly in monetary integration. Despite obstacles to and criticism of a more active Japanese role in regional integration, Japan has a strong interest in furthering regional integration. Thus, the Fukuda doctrine still retains its relevance. It should, however, focus not only on South East Asia but also on the whole East Asian region, taking into account China’s rise. Pages: 54-74 Volume: 16 Issue: 2 Year: 2008 Handle: RePEc:gig:chaktu:v:16:y:2008:i:2:54-74 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Patrick Köllner Title: The DPJ at 10: From “Third Force“ to Governing Party? Journal: Japan aktuell - Journal of Current Japanese Affairs Abstract: In April 1998 the Democratic Party of Japan was formed as a liberal alternative to both the ruling Liberal Democrats and the Social Democrats. The DPJ not only managed to stay alive but also developed into an effective challenger of the LDP. Twice the DPJ seemed close to taking power, only to have their chances thwarted by then prime minister Koizumi. Indeed, the first ten years of the DPJ have not been a linear success story. The party has repeatedly been hit by problems and has also largely failed to develop a distinctive programmatic profile. Yet, in the face of ill-conceived political priorities and weak leadership on the part of then prime minister Abe, the DPJ was able to triumph in the 2007 upper house elections – only to see their reputation severely damaged by DPJ head Ozawa’s apparent willingness to enter into a grand coalition with the LDP. While such plans have been shelved for the moment, the DPJ has emerged weakened from the episode. Despite the fact that the Fukuda administration has fallen from public favour in recent months, the DPJ will have a hard time trying to unseat the LDP-led government in the next lower house elections. Pages: 75-92 Volume: 16 Issue: 2 Year: 2008 Handle: RePEc:gig:chaktu:v:16:y:2008:i:2:75-92 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Nadine Burgschweiger Author-Name: Ryoma Sakaeda Title: Leadership Vacuum at the Bank of Japan: A Price for More Independence? Journal: Japan aktuell - Journal of Current Japanese Affairs Abstract: Before the new governor Masaaki Shirakawa took office on 9 April 2008, Japan’s central bank (Bank of Japan, BOJ) was without an official leader for three weeks. After Shirakawa’s predecessor Toshihiko Fukui retired on 19 March, the BOJ’s top position was vacant for the first time in 80 years as a result of the repeated rejection of nominees by the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). The veto was grounded in the objection that having a former Finance Ministry official elected as governor could reduce the independence of monetary policy from governmental influence. Since the Bank of Japan Law was revised in 1997, the central bank’s independence has been regulated by law. Why did the DPJ raise the question again? Is there really a need for stronger autonomy of monetary policy at the BOJ, or was the political stalemate caused by mere political obstructionism? By picking up the main argument for the rejection of nominees, this article will examine the central bank governorship nomination process and its repercussions and try to find an answer to this question. Pages: 93-110 Volume: 16 Issue: 2 Year: 2008 Handle: RePEc:gig:chaktu:v:16:y:2008:i:2:93-110