ABSTRACT
This chapter commences with a brief account of Japan's transformation from defeated empire to an insular 'pacifist state' during the Cold War and the emergence of the Yoshida doctrine. The arrival in 1853 of Commodore Perry's 'black ships' marked the intensification of Japan's modern engagement with the Western state system. Japan's imperialism was in part a product of the international state system. As Japan's economy grew to challenge the supremacy of Western economies, the close relationship between state and business that established in Japan was increasingly scrutinized. Regarding China, Japan may be said to be facing the logic of an emerging rival power challenging its subdued regional leadership, and this expresses itself in occasional policy adventurism. From a radical perspective Japan's failure to balance US power, and its continuing preference to augment US power in the region suggests that a structure of US-led hegemony is present.
