aims to make accessible the complexity of Japanese ideas on Japan and international affairs, and to engage those ideas in international debate. For these purposes, JIIA Commentary invites a wide range of Japanese thinkers and practitioners to express their views.

Japan today is in the midst of a great social and political transformation, akin to the Meiji Restoration of 1868 and the defeat in World War II. And the manner of transformation affects Japan’s international behavior. There is evident gap between debate and reality, between thinking and policy. Yet it is also a moment of intellectual vibrancy, and the Japanese are debating ways of thinking. JIIA Commentary introduces new ways of seeing Japan through exposition deeper than everyday headlines and broader than today’s specializations.　I believe that the next wave of Japan’s contribution to international relations is in the realm of political ideas.

Yukio Satoh
Publisher, JIIA Commentary
President, The Japan Institute of International Affairs

is an occasional online publication of The Japan Institute of International Affairs, which is available on the web and by free subscription. The views expressed in JIIA Commentary are the authors’ own and should not be attributed to JIIA Commentary or The Japan Institute of International Affairs.

JIIA Commentary features:

- Issues and Insights

- Interviews and Debates

- Reflections

- What the Japanese are Reading

- The Librarian’s Index

Masaru Tamamoto, Editor
Nao Shimoyachi, Assistant Editor