External Dependencies and Shifting Global Contexts

Abstract

Abstract Japan’s path to Society 5.0 will not be entirely of its own making. Chapter 9 gives an overview of Japan’s external geopolitical and economic relations and dependencies, which are influencing its internal transformation. Trade and investment relations are increasingly subject to ‘weaponization’, raising the strategic importance of economic security, and proactive economic statecraft. In the midst of US–China tensions, Japan has managed to steer a proactive path with its ‘free and open Indo-Pacific’, but it has other dependencies as well, notably in energy and food, exposed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Conversely, Japan is attempting to turn domestic transformation into export capability, especially with ASEAN countries. And relations with the EU have deepened markedly in recent years. To date Japan has been able to create a degree of synergy between its external relations and dependencies on the one hand, and its economic transformation on the other.