Introduction

In the beginning there was enthusiasm. When in April 2010, the new President of the European Council, Herman van Rompuy, the President of the Commission Manuel Barroso and the fairly new Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama (from the Democratic Party of Japan, hereafter DPJ) met for the 19th EU–Japan summit in Tokyo, there seemed to be the possibility of a new dawn in European-Japanese relations. Since the 1991 Hague Declaration on EU–Japan Political Relations (Declaration of 18 July 1991) nearly 20 years of half-hearted summitry had formalized the gradual institutional evolution of EU–Japan political relations (Nakamura 2013) but it had failed to deliver on greater promises. 2010 was therefore optimistically dubbed the ‘year of renewal’ (MOFA 2010, Japan-EU Joint Press Statement). It was hoped that relations between Europe and Japan could finally be elevated to a higher level, in order to achieve the significant potential that closer cooperation between two large economic entities with shared values certainly promised. Back then, negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement and on a Comprehensive Political Agreement between the EU and Japan were already set in motion. The newly upgraded EU foreign policy instruments, namely the foundation of the EEAS and the strengthened role of the High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Baroness Catherine Ashton, provided further impetus for optimism. All looked set for a fundamental upgrade of one of the EU’s oldest and most valued strategic partnerships.