ABSTRACT
The objective of this edited volume is to explore how the normative, theoretical and physical boundaries of the Japanese state, and in particular its behaviour, have been negotiated, inscribed and reinscribed as a result of changes in international and domestic structures. Within this broader project, this chapter is concerned with the international level where this has been most obvious in attempts to become a ‘normal state’, implying a greater contribution to international society. The debate on Japan’s contribution to international society has traditionally been portrayed as a tension between financial contributions and a human contribution, the most high-profile example of this debate being the controversy surrounding Japan’s ‘tardy’ response to the 1991 Gulf War, which a decade later continued to inform Japan’s contribution to the US-led ‘war on terror’. However, faced by this stark bipolar choice, Japan’s contribution to international society and the delineation of its boundaries through agenda-setting, the extension of membership and the exclusion of outlying states have tended to be overlooked.
