ABSTRACT
In this chapter, Hidekazu Sakai gives an overview of Japan’s interests in the Pacific Islands, noting both the nature of Japan’s increased engagement and the challenges it faces. Sakai discusses the Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting (PALM), a foreign policy dialogue under which Japan has met biennially with Pacific Island countries since 1997, which he describes as an attempt to nurture shared islander identities between Pacific Island states and Japan. Sakai identifies that Japan is increasingly interested in the Pacific Islands region and in 2020 stepped up traditional security engagement, including by establishing the Japan Pacific Islands Defense Dialogue in 2021. However, he acknowledges that there are some tensions in Pacific-Japan relations, including the disposal of unexploded ordinances, and most notably the issue of Japan dumping nuclear waste from its Fukushima reactor into the Pacific Ocean.
