Paper short abstract:

The paper discusses Japan's foreign policy toward North Korea in the period 1998-2006 and the contribution of the Japanese Rescue Movement to the government's decision to impose economic sanctions against the North in 2006.

Paper long abstract:

Japanese foreign policy toward North Korea shifted over a relatively short period of time between 1998 and 2006. North Korea conducted missile tests close to Japan in 1998 and in 2006, but Japan`s reaction was different in each situation. In 1998, although the missile launch was considered regrettable from the viewpoint of security, and peace and stability of the region, the Japanese government did not impose long-term sanctions, nor respond with coercive accusations. However, in 2006, after an event similar to the one in 1998, Japan imposed unilateral sanctions on North Korea, therefore punishing a neighbouring state, for the first time since World War II.

This paper will offer an explanation for the shift in the Japanese government`s policy toward North Korea focusing on civil society groups, and in particular on the Japanese Rescue Movement and the way in which the comprising groups advocated their cause to various audiences: government, public, media, and other state or non-state actors.

Based on the findings of the research, it is argued that the Japanese Rescue Movement had an instrumental role in shaping the government's policy toward North Korea in 2006 to impose unilateral economic sanctions. Alongside the instrumentalization of the abduction issue and of Kazokukai by Sukuukai and Satō Katsumi, the Head of Modern Korea Research Institute and Chairman of Sukuukai, young, conservative politicians, who came to hold positions of power in the 2000s, used the Rescue Movement and its advocated goal as an instrument in the policy toward North Korea, in order to promote a certain political agenda.

The paper also highlights the strategies and tactics of the civil society groups towards various audiences, drawing on the concept of "advocacy" with its four types: political, social, media and transnational, and underlines the circumstances in which civil society can successfully contribute to policy-making in Japan.

Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the speeches and interventions of Japanese parliamentarians in the Asia-Europe Parliamentary Partnership (ASEP) process in order to study the role of Japanese parliamentarians in the promotion of Japan's foreign policy.

Paper long abstract:

This paper explores the activities of the National Diet of Japan in the Asia-Europe Parliamentary Partnership (ASEP) process, which is the parliamentary dimension of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM). Dialogue with foreign colleagues at international parliamentary institutions (IPIs) not only supports the empowerment and internationalization of parliamentarians but engages them in international promotion of norms. Japanese parliamentarians, as most of their foreign colleagues, have a limited role in international dialogue and decision-making because of their domestic mandate. Yet due to e.g. globalization parliamentarians also in Japan are increasingly required to deal with issues that have international linkages.

The research looks into the speeches and interventions of Japanese parliamentarians in the biennial ASEP meetings and discusses these against Japan's foreign policy norms. What kind of norms do the parliamentarians support and promote at ASEP? Are they consistent with Japan's government-led foreign policy or not? Are the Japanese parliamentarians, often dubbed as rubber stamps of the government, using their parliamentary freedom? What kind of role do the parliamentarians take in the process of norm promotion? Based on the analysis of ASEP meeting reports this research argues that Japanese Diet members perform a three-level process at ASEP. First, they promote the norms and agenda of the Japanese government in which respect they mirror Japan's EU, ASEM and global activity. Second, they drive personal or party agendas, demonstrating that parliamentarians are not mere mouthpieces of the government but bring plurality and even dissonance to Japan's message. Third, they promote norms of parliamentary democracy and parliamentary participation in international affairs. ASEP provides an interesting context thanks to its multifaceted focus (from climate change to world trade issues and education) and multilateral membership that brings together Japan's key neighbours and trade partners, including the European Union, which has often been identified as a natural partner with whom Japan shares common values.

This research produces new knowledge on the little researched area of the Diet's activities in international parliamentary institutions. In addition this study also takes a rare Asia and Japan focused view in the mostly Eurocentric research on international parliamentary institutions and parliamentary diplomacy.