Variations on a Pan-Asianist Theme: the ‘Special Relationship’ between Japan and Thailand

A major cause for Japan’s emergence by the late nineteenth century as a significant economic and military power was the relative ease with which feudal fief particularism gave way to a broader all-encompassing nationalism. In being confronted in the mid-nineteenth century by a perceived hostile external world after two centuries of isolationism, Japanese, irrespective of their origins, were struck by their ‘Japaneseness’. While the nation-building process has been remarkably successful, Japan’s place and role in what tends to be referred to euphemistically as the ‘international community’ have generated problems both of policy and identity. Whereas in the course of the postwar decades the cornerstone of Japan’s foreign policy has been its relationship with the USA, more recently there has been a tendency to shift emphasis in the direction of Japan’s neighbours. As a senior Keidanren official has stated: ‘Hit hard by the United States and Europe on the trade policy front, Japan is psychologically set to seek hands [of friendship] in Asia and especially ASEAN.’2