ABSTRACT
Chapter 13 began with reference to Japan’s interest in the euro, which was launched in January 1999. It is this interest in the economic dimension of Japan-Europe relations which has been at the core of the overall relationship since it restarted in the 1950s after the end of World War II. In particular, the development of the European Economic Community (EEC), and the rapid growth of Japan from the late 1950s, drew attention to both Japan and Europe as economic powers. This chapter examines the path that Japan has taken in pursuing bilateral trade with the major European powers alongside a developing economic relationship with the EEC. It demonstrates how these developments have been driven by changes in the structure of the international system from the 1970s and particularly from the 1980s, as well as by specific policy-making agents. Changes brought about by the Nixon shocks of 1971 and by the oil crisis of 1973 caused Japan to review its international economic relations, particularly those with the US. In the early 1970s, the expanded EC attempted not only to develop its own monetary union, but also to deal with external economic affairs as a unitary actor. As a result, the European Commission began to deal with Japan on behalf of the EC. International conditions, however, also led to a decline in Japan-Europe relations at the end of the 1970s. At that time, the oil crisis of 1979, combined with economic stagnation in the EC, began to slow down attempts to deal with Japan in the economic dimension. It was only in the 1980s that a strong yen and a revitalized EC prompted Japan and the EC once again to pay attention to one another’s economic development. Since that time, their economic relations have been constantly refined and reinforced. In the 1990s, the development of a Single European Market (SEM), and moves towards a single European currency, intensified this trend. In discussing these developments up to the beginning of the twenty-first century, this chapter will examine structure and agency as well as the norms which now underpin economic relations between Japan and the countries of Europe.
