Conclusion

During the Second World War, Japan’s expansion in Asia was justified by the propaganda of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, which was buttressed by the German geopolitical concept of lebensraum, territory necessary for self-sufficiency and thus for survival. Because Japan lost the war and regretted its invasion of its Asian neighbors and the war as a whole, its foreign policy in the post–World War II period has tended to avoid creating policies based on abstract values, ideas, and concepts. While emphasizing the US-Japan alliance, a United Nations–centered approach, and friendly relations with Asian countries during the Cold War period, Japan did not play a role in the ideological war. Although the People’s Republic of China was established in 1949 as a communist country, Japan continuously demonstrated its enthusiasm to resume its relations, especially its trade relations, with China. In the early Cold War period, a widely shared discourse developed in Japan claiming that communist North Korea might be a utopia. Although Japan was in the free camp throughout the Cold War period based on the Yoshida doctrine, its ideological commitment to freedom, liberty, and democracy was not apparent in its foreign policy. Even after the Cold War ended with the democratization of most former communist countries, Japan continued to hold a sympathy toward cultural relativism, such as the Asian values argument.