ABSTRACT
In the ever-shifting dynamics of world politics, the United Nations, as the only global political institution, has weathered a variety of stormy challenges for nearly five decades. For Japan, the United Nations has been a source of its own legitimacy in the community of nations, which had been lost in the aftermath of World War II. This legitimacy was accorded in 1956 when Japan was admitted to the world body after several earlier attempts had been prevented by the Soviet veto in the Security Council. Japan then set out to enhance its international status through the United Nations by supporting its goals and principles. Yet it did so without clearly defining the objectives and strategies of its UN diplomacy. Japan's postwar foreign policy framework, often referred to as the Yoshida doctrine, which relied heavily on the United States for security, maintained minimum self-defense capabilities, and pursued economic gains, was too successful to discard. Contrary to the official pronouncement of "UN centrism" or "UN -centered diplomacy," Japanese diplomacy has been far from UN centric. Japan's attitude toward the United Nations has been ambivalent and pragmatic, generally consistent with its minimalist approach to the conduct of foreign policy and the pursuit of national interests.
