dollar.
The question this paper seeks to answer is: How can we best explain Japan’s
regional turn in currency management? It will investigate the incentives within Japan for
these shifts, as well as assessments by Japanese politicians, government officials, and
private-sector actors of the potential to set up effective regional institutions to facilitate
economic integration. It will consider three alternative hypotheses:
1. Domestic Political Economy: The regional turn can best be understood by
changes in the interests of key Japanese actors, including financial institutions,
exporters and importers, manufacturers with multinational operations, Ministry of
Finance and Bank of Japan officials, and politicians.
2. Strategic Realist: The regional turn results from leaders’ rational calculations of
national interest, focusing in particular on growing exposure to shifts in East
Asian economies, the need to hedge against both China and the United States, and
efforts to be a regional leader.
3. Regional Identity: The regional turn reflects an increasing identification of Japan
as an “Asian” nation. Aspects of this approach include increasing disenchantment
with US visions of globalization, a desire to insulate national models of economic
management, generational shifts away from the post-war generation toward a
post-Cold War generation, and increasing cultural identification with Asia
resulting from increased exposure to cultural products, people, and languages.
These hypotheses will be evaluated based on content analysis and economic data over
time. Content analysis will focus on official and semi-official government reports;
statements by politicians; policy statements by Keidanren, Keizai Dôyûkai, and other
industry groups; articles and editorials in mainstream periodicals; and interviews. It will
consider the varying positions (and justifications for those positions) taken by opinion
leaders and key actors in foreign economic policy making regarding CMI and currency
management by ASEAN+3 countries. In the background is the rapidly changing
economic situation, including shifts in regional shares of trade, FDI, portfolio investment,
and lending; foreign exchange reserves; and currency denomination of trade and finance.
Grimes, Regional Turn - 2
Convention