Japan-ASEAN relations, which have traditionally been underpinned by trade, tourism, investment and official development assistance (ODA), appear to have reached a turning point. This is because most, if not all, 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have become economically mature and have consequently emerged as important partners for Japan, rather than as recipients of Japanese goods, money and technology.
Indeed, ASEAN's exports to Japan have increased steadily over the past decade, while Japan's exports to ASEAN countries have remained more or less stagnant. ASEAN's share of Japan's total ODA also seems to be declining rather than increasing. And the broadly flat trend of Japanese investment in the ASEAN region in recent years contrasts starkly with the rapid pace of investment in China.
Bearing this situation in mind, we should reorient Japan's public diplomacy toward ASEAN and our policies on cultural and intellectual exchanges with the region, which have traditionally been based on the assumption that Japan's policies should be geared to correcting the image of Japan as simply an economic giant.