PacNet #64 - Japan's Foreign Policy and the Alliance: Transcending Change with Trust

An unprecedented change in government has raised speculation about the direction of Japan’s foreign policy. The Aug. 30, 2009 legislative elections allowed the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) to take control of government for the first time from the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Japan’s democracy is poised for change, but drastic revision of the Japan-U.S. alliance is not in Japan’s national interest, is not what the Japanese people voted for, and would seriously distract the new government from other priorities.