Hirakawa, Hitoshi

Abstract
The currency and financial crisis in 1997 marked a significant turning point in the regionalism movement in East Asia, spurring the movement on over the ensuing period since then so as to ensure growth and stability in the region. Institutional frameworks, like the ASEAN+3 summits and the East Asian Summit rapidly turned into reality, and even discussion about forming an East Asian community has been initiated. How does Japan cope with these developments and to what extent has Japan taken part in the development of regionalism in East Asia? In this paper, the author will evaluate Japan’s policy change in the area of trade and FTA negotiations, starting from the very end of the last century to the beginning of the 21st century. Such an evaluation will show that Japan’s trade/FTA policy is in a backward state vis-à-vis the other Asian countries. These policies were mainly a response of the Japanese ministries and government to the ROK and ASEAN, especially China’s initiatives concerning regional integration policy and the phenomenon of a global surge towards regionalism. Japan started FTA negotiations with Asian countries without coordinating among ministries in order not to lose political initiatives in East Asia. As for the building of an East Asian community, the paper will argue that by taking the initiative ASEAN can play an extremely important role in its formation, while at the same time it becomes more and more necessary for Japan to position her East Asia regional integration policy within a more regional framework.
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