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This book examines Japan's relationship with Myanmar from the passage of its constitution in May 2008 to the February 2021 coup d'état that finished its transition to a 'disciplined democracy.' It explores the nexus between security and political economy in the context of changing regional dynamics characterized by 'Great Power' competition and cooperation. Focusing on the impact of Japan's relations with Myanmar on people in Myanmar and beyond, the author argues that the Japanese government and businesses side lined 'universal values' for profit at the expense of human security. This text develops a unique Area Studies approach that critiques how Japan's foreign policy elites perceive Japan's role in the liberal international order

This book examines Japan's relationship with Myanmar from the passage of its constitution in May 2008 to the February 2021 coup d'état that finished its transition to a 'disciplined democracy'. It develops a unique Area Studies approach that critiques how Japan's foreign policy elites perceive Japan's role in the liberal international order.

In recent times, international society has countered a myriad of 'outlaw' threats at sea, including piracy, terrorism, the proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) and the threat posed by 'rogue states'. Whilst the US has promoted 'coalitions of the willing' and sought to transform international maritime law in response to these 'outlaws', Japanese governments have developed an innovative maritime security strategy centering on the Japan Coast Guard (JCG). Concerned by Japan's international image as a former imperialist power, Tokyo has relied upon the identity of the JCG as a law enforcement and rescue organization to garner support for its maritime security strategy. Japan's non-military efforts have developed the capacities of states and built institutions in the Southeast Asian region and beyond. The JCG's response to maritime 'outlaws' belies characterizations of Japan as a passive state that does not contribute to international order.

Critiques of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen's New Southbound Policy overemphasize Beijing's ability to hinder what is essentially a rational economic move that was already underway prior to Tsai's inauguration. China's antagonistic stance toward the New Southbound Policy merely pushes Taiwan into the hands of Japan, China's regional rival.

Numerous academic works have critiqued Japan's Official Development Assistance (ODA) programme for being mercantilist and failing to promote democratization and human rights (Orr 1990; Rix 1993; Arase 1995, 2005). Such accounts assess Japan's ODA policy from Western theoretical perspectives that advocate Western approaches, such as military and economic interventions to contain repressive states. While receptive to these criticisms, Japanese policy-makers have perceived their country's international role in 'bridging' (kakehashi) terms and structured their ODA accordingly, as this paper details in the case of Japan's ODA policy towards Myanmar. 1 . - The rationale behind Japan's kakehashi approach lies in the construction of Japan's self-identity as a state able to reenter international society after World War II through focusing on economic development rather than military and coercive action. Proponents of the kakehashi approach construct Japan both as a model of successful democratization through development which other states can learn from, as well as the means through ODA to 'bridge' the divide between repressive regimes and liberal democratic capitalism. This critical approach examines Japan's kakehashi or bridging strategy in terms of Japan's response to the anti-government protests in September 2007, Cyclone Nargis in May 2008, and in the build up to parliamentary elections in November 2010 in Myanmar to demonstrate the permanence of this approach in spite of a change of government in Japan. In so doing, the kakehashi approach reveals opportunities to engage with, rather than contain, repressive regimes, thereby raising the possibility of enticing such states back into international society though economic incentives. (Pac Rev/GIGA)

In responding to piracy in the Gulf of Aden, both Chinese and Japanese policymakers have acted as norm entrepreneurs who intend to transform the dominant norms of international society. Chinese and Japanese norm entrepreneurship is grounded in the ways in which foreign policy actors construct and reconstruct their state identity. In China's case, policymakers have projected China's self-image as a responsible and benevolent Great Power that derives from the Chinese conception of Tianxia. Japanese foreign policy actors, on the other hand, have advanced the notion of Japan as a bridge that mediates between East and West, developing and developed states, members and non-members of international society. Although we do not advocate that Chinese or Japanese norm entrepreneurship should be accepted uncritically, we do maintain that there exist opportunities to combine and develop the multiple approaches that different states promote to problems. This article has shown that dealing with Somali piracy is one such case.

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Introduction: The Many Faces of Global East Asia -- Part One: Global East Asia: Past and Present -- Introduction -- 1. Reluctant Keystone: The Nexus of War, Memory, and Geopolitics in Okinawa -- 2. From Jazz Men to Jasmine: Transnational Nightlife Cultures in Shanghai from the 1920s to the 2010s -- 3. Maoism as a Global Force -- 4. Japanese Development Aid and Global Power -- 5. Conflict and Cooperation in Global East Asia -- Part Two. East Asian Global Cultures -- Introduction -- 6. Hybridity and Authenticity in Global East Asian Foodways -- 7. Trans-Pacific Flows and US Audiences of Korean Popular Culture -- 8. Ai Weiwei and the Global Art of Politics -- Part Three. Education, Science, and Technology -- Introduction -- 9. China, Japan, and the Rise of Global Competition in Higher Education and Research -- 10. The Educational Exodus from South Korea -- 11. From "Wild East" to Global Pioneers: Life Science Developments in East Asia -- 12. A Concise History of Worlding Chinese Medicine -- Part Four. East Asian Mobilities and Diversities -- Introduction -- 13. Of Married Daughters and Caged Chickens: The History and Significations of Being "Chinese" in Southeast Asia -- 14. The Korean Diaspora in the United States -- 15. The Japanese Diaspora in the Americas and the Ethnic Return Migration of Japanese Americans -- 16. Chinese Labor Migrants in Asia and Africa -- 17. Uncertain Choices of Chinese-Foreign Children's Citizenship in the People's Republic of China -- 18 • From Hmong Versus Miao to the Making of Transnational Hmong/Miao Solidarity -- 19. An East Asian Nation without a State: Xinjiang and China's Non-Chinese -- Part Five. The Rise of China and East Asia as the New Center of the World -- Introduction -- 20. Global China's Business Frontier: Chinese Enterprises and the Reach of the State -- 21. Common Destiny in Cyberspace: China's Cyber Diplomacy -- 22. Chinese Correspondents around the World -- 23. Decoupling the US Economy: Preparations for a New Cold War? -- 24. State-Led Globalization, or How Hard Is China's Soft Power? -- Afterword. East Asia: Being There and Being Elsewhere 310 -- List of Contributors -- Index