What is Japan’s foreign policy making?

The essence of policy making continues to lie in collective decisions reached in private, based on consensus involving intricate negotiations and compromise; the bureaucracy continues to be the key actor in foreign policy; leadership by a single individual remains foreign to Japanese culture; The widely-shared beliefs among the Japanese – an uneasiness toward the outside world, an obsession with Japan’s vulnerability and ultra-sensitivity to foreign criticism, combine to form the diplomatic style of ‘coping’; coping produces an identifiable pattern of carefully appraising the external situation, methodically weighing and sorting every option, deferring action on contentious issues, forging a domestic consensus on the situation and adapting to a situation with minimal risk. However, there are some analysts like Nathaniel Thayer, who debunk or refute or oppose the image of Japanese policymaking as a ‘leaderless’ process, arguing that at critical moments in Japanese postwar foreign policy, political leaders and not bureaucratic institutions, have been the driving force behind major policy decisions. Examples are PM Yoshida’s push for a security treaty with the US, PM Tanaka’s move to establish formal relations with China.

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