ASEAN-Japan Cooperation in the New Emerging Agenda

This chapter reviews the achievements of cooperation between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Japan and studies potential benefits and opportunities in the new emerging agenda, including supply chain resilience, digitalisation, smart cities, the circular economy, agriculture, health care, sustainable energy, sustainable tourism, and human capital development. It is organised as follows. In Section 2, Keita Oikawa writes about the importance of building an end-to-end supply chain data ecosystem to strengthen supply chain resilience in East Asia. In Section 3, with the new ASEAN–Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership (AJCEP), Lurong Chen emphasises the importance of improving connectivity, facilitating trade liberalisation in services, and fostering regulatory harmonisation between ASEAN and Japan. In Section 4, Venkatachalam Anbumozhi and Fumitaka Machida review the ASEAN Smart Cities Network (ASCN) and a smart city supported by Japan and ASEAN, stressing the importance of a human-centric perspective in the future collaboration of ASEAN and Japan in such initiatives. In Section 5, Masanori Kozono summarises the history of ASEAN–Japan cooperation in the food and agriculture sectors and suggests a future direction for the cooperation. In Section 6, Christopher L. Hardesty, Asuka Nagatani, and Takuma Kato detail the collaboration between ASEAN and Japan regarding developing universal health coverage (UHC) in ASEAN and introduce efforts of the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) towards building a health care ecosystem in Asia for UHC. In Section 7, Kei Sudo and Han Phoumin evaluate recent ASEAN–Japan collaboration on energy, highlighting the range of cooperation that encompasses financial, technological, and human resources development towards a sustainable energy future in the ASEAN region. In Section 8, Aladdin D. Rillo and Melanie S. Milo examine sustainable tourism in ASEAN, while drawing on the experience of Japan to offer valuable insights. In Section 9, Fusanori Iwasaki and Michikazu Kozima propose policy recommendations for building a circular economy with ASEAN–Japan cooperation. Their recommendations draw on Japan’s experience in waste management and aim to foster sustainable and efficient use of resources. Finally, in Section 10, Rashesh Shrestha notes the lack of a skilled workforce in the ASEAN region and advocates for a collaborative effort between ASEAN and Japan in the field of secondary and post-secondary education, leveraging Japan’s advanced educational resources.