ABSTRACT

Most of Morishima’s proposal is sound. Yet the Asian community need not be limited to North-East Asia. Rather, the Asian community should consist of all Asian countries including Australia and New Zealand. In the context of the reforming international financial system, this means the establishment of the Asian Monetary Fund (AMF) in the short run and the formation of an Asian currency bloc in the long run. Asian co-operation, as would be required by the AMF, would be the basic element of the Asian approach in the twenty-first century. However, there are two obstacles to this development. The first is that some Japanese political leaders have a faulty understanding of their history, especially the Emperor system and Japan’s war of aggression. The second is the influence of the United States on Japanese policy.