This edited collection analyzes the innovative changes in Japan's foreign policy. Pursuing new relationships with South Asia, Africa, and Eastern Europe, Japanese initiatives include regional peace-building and human security activities, Asian multilateralism, and the Indo-Pacific concept. This collection focuses on these evolving international relationships through Japan's unique approach to political change and continuity.

This edited collection analyzes the innovative changes in Japan's foreign policy. Pursuing new relationships with South Asia, Africa, and Eastern Europe, Japanese initiatives include regional peace-building and human security activities, Asian multilateralism, and the Indo-Pacific concept. This collection focuses on these evolving international relationships through Japan's unique approach to political change and continuity.

During the 50 years after World War II Japan's economy was built up from scratch to the world's number two, while its foreign policy has been described by many as passive and even verging on being non-existent. As a contrast, this study explains how the foundations of Japan's foreign policy were laid in the early post-war period, and how post-war policies have been characterized by pervasive continuity, guided by distinct national goals and expressed in clear-cut national role conceptions.