Exploration of Japan's postwar foreign policy

I find Kevin Cooney's Japan's Foreign Policy Since 1945 (East Gate, New York, 2007) a dispassionate and thought-stimulating introduction to the subject as it outlines, from a historical or dynamic perspective and with the appropriate amount of facts and figures, different schools of thought on the making, changes and continuities of the foreign policy of postwar Japan as well as exploration of the future direction of its international relations.

Japan's Foreign Policy Since 1945, however, does not cover the very intense foreign policy debates and controversies within and beyond Japan during the one-year administration - from 26 September, 2006 to 12 September, 2007 - of former prime minister Shinzo Abe.

Besides regularly reading well-researched and balanced books like Kevin Cooney's Japan's Foreign Policy Since 1945, old-fashioned writers or analysts of strategic affairs like this blogger also exchange ideas with, or seek opinions from, more established teachers and experienced observers like Professor Dr. Wang Gungwu, Professor Dr. Lee Poh Ping and Mr. Loke Thu Sang to ensure that our basic understanding of the overall situations or configurations of forces is as close to reality on earth as possible, although we may finally still differ on some detailed matters of value judgement. Ancora Imparo.

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