Japan competes with the United States economically while acting as a supporter, not a challenger, in world politics. Japan is America's number one ally in Asia. It has made economically based contributions. How cooperative has Japan been in the use of economic power for the United States? The...

Two competing visions of Japan prevail in academic research and policy analysis. On the global level, Japan is often seen as a power that knows how to achieve economic success but does not know what to do in foreign policy. By contrast, on the regional level the country is viewed, with both awe...

This chapter discusses Japan's relations with the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). As a latecomer, Japan has faced institutional disadvantages in the two global institutionsâthe World Bank and the IMF. In contrast, the ADB is a rare case...

This chapter integrates the explanations for Japan's relations with the United States, East Asia, and the three international financial institutions provided in the previous chapters. By resorting mainly to economic meansâand mostly cooperative at thatâJapan behaves "strangely" compared with...