For the foreseeable future, the alliance with the United States will remain the cornerstone of Japan’s security. The Japan-US alliance is also arguably the most important factor in the stability of East Asia. While thought to rest on a firm foundation, the alliance is in reality constantly affected by domestic public opinion and politics, international events and their repercussions, tensions between other countries, and cultural outlook. In this collection of essays, six Japanese political scientists examine how differences and similarities in policies between the two partners toward various issues and countries may affect the solidarity of the alliance and, hence, influence the stability of the Asia Pacific region at large. 

Themes covered include the two countries’ strategies toward armed non-state actors, the security of Southeast Asia as a common agenda in the alliance, the Taiwan issue in Sino-Japanese relations, the impact of a reunified Korea on the security agreement between Japan and the United States and between South Korea and the United States, economic sanctions against Myanmar, and the overall framework of the Japan-US alliance. As the first such collection of analysis and opinion on this topic in English by Japan’s intellectual leaders of tomorrow, this volume makes accessible to readers current thinking in Japan on the alliance that is so important to both countries.

This publication was the result of a study on the “The Japan-US Alliance: New Challenges in the 21st Century,” which was carried out as part of the Global ThinkNet Fellows program.