The Contemporary Political Discourse in Japan on Japan’s Foreign policy

The demise of the Cold War system of bipolarity has meant a loss of Japan’s legitimacy in its clear-cut role as partner of the United States in the Asian-Pacific region. The chances that the United States might abandon Japan as a partner have risen dramatically since the end of the Cold War. ¹ This has given rise to considerable insecurity and frustration on the part of the Japanese, not only with regard to security issues, but also in the economic, political and cultural areas. The implications of the fundamental changes that had occurred in international politics were reinforced by a dramatic reshuffle in the Japanese domestic political arena: the end of the rule by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in 1993 gave rise to hopes that Japanese politics might finally face significant reform. These hopes, however, soon ended when the symbol of a “new Japan”, Hosokawa Morihiro, had to resign due to his involvement in a corruption scandal as early as in January 1994.