""As we celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the ASEAN-Japan Dialogue Partnership, the essays in this book remind us, and amplify the ASEAN-Japan relations. The complexities of this relationship, including the external influences which have impinged on its development over the years, are cogently discussed and recorded for the younger generation and students of ASEAN-Japan ties. The intricacy and spread of ASEAN-Japan cooperation mechanisms are also well highlighted in this book, while several thought-provoking commentaries on the future of this four-decade old partnership give pause to the reade.

This book assesses the importance of enhanced ASEAN-Japan cooperation as a step toward a greater East Asian regional community. Fifteen international relations experts from ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries and Japan, as well as China, South Korea, and the United States, review the history and current status of this bilateral relationship and propose how it can be strengthened. Chapters review the history of ASEAN-Japan relations and the rationale for renewed emphasis on cooperation; assess ASEAN as a regional unit and Japan as a regional actor; consider the implications for the relationship of changing regional and international environments; examine the future direction of economic, political, and security relations between the two actors; and evaluate societal and cultural areas of cooperation.Contributors include Tanaka Akihiko (Institute of Oriental Cultures, University of Tokyo, Japan), Jusuf Wanandi (Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Jakarta, Indonesia), Hadi Soesastro (Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Indonesia), Soeya Yoshihide (Keio University, Japan), Charles Morrison (East-West Center), Ahn Byung-joon (Graduate Institute of Policy Studies, Japan), Zhang Yunling (Institute of Asia Pacific Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences), Jesus Estanislao (Institute of Corporate Directors, Phillipines), Narongchai Akrasanee (Seranee Holdings Co. Ltd., Thailand), Chia Siow Yue (Singapore Institute of International Affairs), Hirono Ryokichi (Seikei University, Japan), Kiuchi Takashi (Shinsei Bank, Japan), Nishihara Masashi (National Defense Academy, Japan), Jawhar bin Hassan (Institute of Strategic and International Studies, Malaysia), Carolina Hernandez (Institute of Strategic and Development Studies, Phillipines), and Yamamoto Tadashi (Japan Center for International Exchange).

This book charts the progress of ASEAN-Japan relations from their difficult wartime legacy to postwar moves at diplomatic and economic rapprochement through successive governments.

This paper was delivered by Takaaki Kojima, Ambassador of Japan to Singapore, as a Public Lecture organized by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies on 2 December 2005.

This volume represents the first tangible results of transnational cooperative research between and among ASEAN and Japanese scholars. The ASEAN Overview covers Industrial and Related Trends in both Japan and ASEAN; ASEAN-Japan Economic Relations; and Policy Issues and Porposed Policy Studies. The Japan Overview covers both Economic Issues and Non-Econoimic Issues in Japan-ASEAN Industrial Cooperation.

The central puzzle in the study of Japanese foreign policy has been why Japan has continued to play a passive role in international affairs, despite its impressive economic and political power. Challenging this central puzzle, the core argument of this study is to present an alternative path for the study of Japanese foreign policy. In fact, in recent years Japanese foreign policy has become less dependent on the United States, more strategic towards Asia, and more energetic towards international and regional institutions. One of the main features is multilateralism in Japanese foreign policy, as shown by Japan's active participation in the regional institutions. In pursuing multilateralism, Japan cooperated closely with the only durable regional body in Southeast Asia, to wit, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Given the fact that East Asian regionalism has been driven by ASEAN, it is of utmost urgency to investigate the emerging partnership between Japan and ASEAN. The central thesis of this study is thus to put Japan's ASEAN policy into a proper perspective by asserting that Japan's new policy initiatives towards ASEAN are not reactive, nor are they exceptions in a broader framework of merely reactive foreign policy.