Japan's Foreign Policy in Central Asia

After World War II, Japan came under the security umbrella of the United States. Due to dominating military logic over the cold war, Japan played a small role in this era and was inactive in the case of international affairs. However, the collapse of bipolar system paved the way for Japan to implement more independent foreign policy. At this time, Central Asia was involved in post-cold war evolutions so that five independent republics were established in the region. The coincidence of these two evolutions raises the question in mind that what have been the aspects and plans of Japan’s foreign policy in Central Asia. Japan’s regional policy in Central Asia has features rooted in Yoshida’s Doctrine. During the cold war era, Japan was a strategic and inactive country, but in the post-cold war era, it transformed into a flexible government in terms of the international arena. The interpretation of this flexibility in Central Asia can be justified by less activity in political and military plans and greater emphasis on economic aspects. In general, Japan’s foreign policy in Central Asia has both political and economic aspects, but within Japan’s plan, the economic aspect has got the higher priority. The essence of Japan’s plans in Central Asia sends out a message to its neighbor that Tokyo does not intend to compete for geopolitics in the region and attempts to act based on the common economic interests.
In this paper, Japan’s regional policy has been investigated based on hegemonic theory.