Southeast Asia has been one of the key components of Japan’s foreign policy in the post-Cold War period. It is one region where Japan’s diplomacy has accomplished considerable success in coming to terms with the challenges posed by the legacies of the Second World War. Successive Japanese governments since 1952 have always maintained that the stability and security of ASEAN countries are closely tied to Japan’s security and prosperity. For a long time, interactions between Japan and ASEAN were centered around economic matters; but changes like the collapse of the Cold War structures, the rise of non-traditional threats like terrorism, maritime piracy, climate change and energy scarcity and the advent of China as an economic and military power in Asia have compelled both Japan and ASEAN to see security in a broader and comprehensive perspective.

Though Japan has still not removed all the taboos that had stood in its way of becoming a ‘normal state’, it has gone a fairly long way to shoulder greater regional security responsibilities than before. To be sure, the security alliance with the US is still considered as the cornerstone of Japan’s foreign policy. But the nature of the alliance itself has drastically altered in the sense that Japan is making tangible contributions to the strengthening of the alliance, as has been seen in Afghanistan and Iraq. The growing military power of China and the intransigence of North Korea on its nuclear and missile programmes have totally altered the security environment of Northeast Asia and made the Japanese people see a strong rationale for expanding the role of the Self-Defence Forces (SDF.) The Constitution of Japan has still not been amended, but the desire to change Article Nine, which prohibits an act of war by the State, is reflected in the extensive debates going on among the political parties concerned. It will, of course, take considerable time to achieve this, but till then Japan is expected to increase its security role gradually within the parameters of the Constitution.