ABSTRACT
Introduction Three major factors have exerted a particularly strong influence on Japan’s foreign policy over the past decade. The first is political and economic trends in Japan, and the second is trends within other major countries and the broader international community. That these two factors should influence Japan’s policy choices and strategy is a matter of course, as domestic and international trends inevitably affect the foreign policy of any nation at any time. If these two factors are taken as the givens – or the framework – of foreign policy making, then the choice of policies and strategies from among the various options that exist within that framework may be regarded as the third and final factor. Japan’s foreign policy has thus been determined by (1) domestic economic and political trends, (2) conditions and changes in the international community, and (3) Japan’s own choices of strategy and policy in the light of the above.
