Review: Where Next for Japan Southeast Asia Futures?
From new shipping corridors to the Quad, a new book sheds light on future prospects for cooperation between Japan, Southeast Asia and the wider Indo-Pacific.
From new shipping corridors to the Quad, a new book sheds light on future prospects for cooperation between Japan, Southeast Asia and the wider Indo-Pacific region.
WonkCount: 1,458 words (~6 minutes)
Review: Where Next for Japan Southeast Asia Futures?
Context
“With the world entering uncharted waters, it is more important than ever for us to strengthen this enduring partnership,” Singapore Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong said during his acceptance speech earlier this week when he was conferred a prestigious award in Japan for forging better ties1. The development was just the latest that cast the spotlight on Tokyo’s evolution of its ties with Southeast Asia, alongside other 2025 developments thus far such as Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s trips to the Philippines and Vietnam. This week alone, Japan has among other things participated in the expanded U.S.-Indonesia multinational Super Garuda Shield exercises; deployed its Mekong envoy to Cambodia, Malaysia and Thailand and officially publicized kickstarting of its Official Security Assistance (OSA) program with East Timor (see below ASEAN Wonk graphic)2. These events are taking place during a year with commemorative activities around World War II, which spotlights how Tokyo has gone from the major power closest to controlling Southeast Asia as a region to by some measures the most trusted investor in the region’s prosperity and security3.
Select Recent Developments Involving Japan and Partners in Southeast Asia and ASEAN
A new book edited by two practitioners sheds light on areas for future cooperation between Japan and Southeast Asia as well as the wider Indo-Pacific4. The book, titled The Land of the Rising Sun and the Lion City and edited by Singapore ambassador-at-large Tommy Koh and Japan ambassador to Singapore Hiroshi Ishikawa, examines the breadth of Tokyo’s ties with Southeast Asia, the Indo-Pacific and the wider world from the lens of the Japan-Singapore relationship. In doing so, it provides a rare example of a future-looking English language book-length publication on Japan’s multifaceted and growing role in Southeast Asia, with other contemporary accounts including The Courteous Power edited by John Ciorciari and Kiyoteru Tsutsui as well as Japan’s ASEAN Policy by Sueo Sudo5. The authors outline a wide-ranging agenda for cooperation ranging from the Quad to shipping corridors to managing aging societies. “Given the increasingly uncertain geopolitical landscape and global economy, there is a greater need to constantly create and sustain the conditions for peace and prosperity,” Japan’s former foreign minister Taro Kono argues in the foreword before the book transitions to individual chapters that offer specific recommendations across ties6.
Analysis
The book also forecasts future policy pathways to watch in the coming years and their wider regional and global implications (see originally-generated ASEAN Wonk table below for a summary of these critical areas, along with major policy cooperation areas and key domains. Paying subscribers can also read the rest of the “Analysis” section and “Implications” section looking at how these dynamics play out in the future).
