Relations between modern Japan and Southeast Asia can be traced back to the migration of ordinary Japanese to Southeast Asia in the 19th century. Following two civilian-led “southbound” booms in the prewar era and the Japanese imperialism of the Second World War, postwar Japan established diplomatic relations with Southeast Asian countries that had won their independence and built new relationships through reparation, sub-reparation, and economic cooperation. Since then, Japan’s Southeast Asia policy has been driven by expectations of the region as a source of raw materials needed for Japan’s recovery and economic growth and as a market. Japan established a significant economic presence in Southeast Asia through the “trinity” of trade, investment, and aid, which enabled political influence in the region.
This vertical relationship between Japan and Southeast Asian countries gradually shifted. Southeast Asian countries established the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and pursued their hedging diplomacy with key countries beyond their region while expanding the ASEAN grouping. For them, ASEAN functioned to stabilize relations among its members, secure benefits from Japan and other countries outside the region, and serve as a framework for influencing the broader regional order. In this context, as well as pursuing bilateral diplomacy with individual Southeast Asian countries, Japan pursued ASEAN diplomacy to build partnerships with the countries in the region from around the mid-1970s.
This article focuses primarily on Japan’s ASEAN diplomacy, explaining how relations and approaches to cooperation between Japan and both ASEAN and Southeast Asian countries have changed over time, and the factors that contributed to these changes. On this basis, the paper also considers the key issues in current and future Japan-ASEAN partnerships.
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