ABSTRACT
Introduction In April of 1955, Japan participated in the Asian-African Conference in Bandung, Indonesia. The stated aims of this conference were to bring together representatives from Asia and Africa in order to “promote the ideas of sovereignty, equality, and solidarity.” The year before, in 1954, the prime ministers of Burma (now Myanmar), India, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) had met in Colombo to discuss common issues of concern, such as the liberation movements in Indochina. At the Colombo Conference, the leaders of these nations found common ground around issues such as the demand for the respect for the sovereignty of nations and the demand for noninterference in the internal affairs of other countries.
