THE JAPANESE DIPLOMACY IN ASIA: EVOLUTION AND CHALLENGES

Abstract

The diplomacy of Japan towards its Asian neighbors has always been a complex issue. Throughout the years, the foreign policy of Japan has witnessed severe alterations specifically after the Second World War. Since then, new challenges and opportunities have risen which have formed a new, adapted Japanese diplomacy, albeit not disconnected from its traditional aspects and its past. The current purpose of the paper is to highlight these evolutions and challenges of the post-WWII Japanese diplomacy. The focus will be on the two main neighbors and traditional partners of Japan, the People’s Republic of China, and the Republic of Korea. There will be an effort to highlight the challenges that Japan experiences with the aforementioned countries, its diplomatic approaches, and how these could be evolved in the near future.