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Introduction to contemporary Japan-European Union (EU) -- relations -- Global Context for EU-Japan relations -- Japan and the EU as International Actors -- A Steady Path to Cooperation -- The Road to an Economic Partnership Agreement -- Building a Strategic Partnership -- A crisis of multilateralism?

Relations between Japan and the EU rarely hit the headlines. Yet, based upon decades of incremental developments, their bilateral partnership has come to cover a wide range of activities. This book traces the history of that mutual interaction and assesses how Japan and the EU have the potential to offer joint solutions to current problems

The term 'climate leadership' became popular in the 1990s, in relation to international negotiations aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental mitigations. Since that time, international attention – borne out by scientific study and a rapidly changing planetary climate - has shifted from global warming, the ozone layer and greenhouse gas emissions, to energy production, scientific innovation, and, by the 2020s, a strong focus on decarbonisation and securing net zero carbon output by the middle of the century. One important strand of negotiation has been the annual Conferences of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which have witnessed different states playing lead roles at different times. By interrogating the main academic debates about climate leadership, this article examines Japan's participation in the COP process along a structural-normative axis. In so doing, it charts the path from Japan's apparent success at Kyoto in 1997 and its growing green reputation, to its subsequent 'fall from green' in later years and in the wake of COP26 in 2021. (Pac Rev / GIGA)