The EU through the Eyes of Japan

This chapter focuses on two of the three pillars of the ‘EU Through the Eyes of the Asia-Pacific’ research project. ¹ It draws on extensive analysis of the Japanese print media, and more than 30 interviews conducted with members of the Japanese elite in 2011–2012. A very high number of EU-related news items were identified in the study, suggesting that the EU has a significant profile within the Japanese print media. A majority of news items were economic in nature, with a particular focus on the sovereign debt crisis. This is somewhat predictable, and not particularly in need of analysis. Rather, our analysis considers two other distinctive and interesting issues that emerged from the research on Japan. The first of these is exasperation within Japan (and the EU) at the slow progress towards an EU–Japan Free Trade Agreement/Economic Partnership Agreement (FTA/EPA). This exasperation was most clearly expressed in the Japanese elite interviews, but the trade negotiations also featured significantly in discussions in the Japanese print media. The second issue is that the EU was consistently perceived to be a significant civilian power, and a leader on human rights promotion, a perception that was strongly evident in both the Japanese media and elite interviews. Furthermore, the EU was perceived far more positively as a political rather than an economic actor, and, in a boost for post-Lisbon perceptions of the EU, High Representative Ashton had a generally high and somewhat positive profile in Japan, particularly in the print media.