Written by Marcin Grajewski,
After more than two decades of economic stagnation, Japan is pushing ahead with a ‘three arrow’ reform package aimed at reviving growth through fiscal stimulus, monetary easing and structural changes, a strategy known as ‘Abenomics’, after the name of Liberal Democrat Prime Minister Shinzō Abe. The reforms are being pursued against a challenging background of high government debt, an ageing population and a fragile external security environment, with, for example, North Korea pushing ahead with its nuclear arms programme.
As advanced industrialised democracies, the EU and Japan have many common interests and values. The scope of the overall relationship has broadened in recent years, along the lines foreseen in the 2001 Action Plan. The EU and Japan are currently working towards a new Framework Agreement and a Free Trade Agreement.
This note offers links to recent commentaries, studies and reports from major international think tanks on relations between Japan and the EU, as well as on economic and political developments in that country.
EU-Japan relations:

Advancing the EU-Japan strategic partnership in a transforming global environment: Challenges, opportunities and prospects
European Policy Centre, March 2016
Europe and Japan: Country by country
European Council on Foreign Relations, December 2015
The Japan-EU regulatory cooperation a key agenda for a ‘living partnership’
European Centre for International Political Economy, July 2015
Japan-Europe cooperation for peace and stability: Pursuing synergies on a comprehensive approach
Tokyo Foundation, June 2015
The Japan-EU partnership on global development
German Marshall Fund, June 2015
Negotiating in the shadow of TTIP and TTP: EU-Japan Free Trade Agreement
German Marshall Fund, June 2015
EU and Japan: Stepping up the game
European Union Institute for Security Studies, May 2015
The EU–Japan Summit considered in light of the renewed US–Japan defence guidelines: New momentum for the strategic partnership?
Egmont, May 2015
Waking up to geopolitics: A new trajectory to Japan-Europe relations
German Marshall Fund, May 2015
Japan’s new Middle East policy: Good news for Europe?
Clingendael, February 2015
Prospects for the EU-Japan strategic partnership
EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation, European University Institute, December 2014
Energy Union: Can Europe learn from Japan’s joint gas purchasing?
Centre for European Policy Studies, December 2014
Lessons from the Bank of Japan for the euro area
Bruegel, November 2014
EU-Japan Free Trade agreement negotiations: Stuck between TPP and TTIP?
Euro-Asia Management Association, November 2014
Will Europe scratch Japan’s back?
Centre for European Reform, June 2014
The Japan-EU negotiations on railway
European Centre for International Political Economy, April 2014
Growing the Japan-Europe partnership
Tokyo Foundation, April 2014
Japan and the EU in the global economy
Bruegel, April 2014
EU–Japan Free Trade Agreement: Opportunities and challenges for businesses in the CEE
Polish Institute of Foreign Affairs, March 2014
Other selected studies on Japan:
The telling of Japan’s ‘lost decade’: A comparison with the narration of the US and EU crises
Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry, March 2016
Is Japan caught in an upper income trap?
Asia Forum Japan, March 2016
La motivation pour l’armée japonaise est-elle en déclin?
Institut des relations internationales et stratégiques, March 2016
ASEAN’s regional role and relations with Japan: The challenges of deeper integration
Chatham House, February 2016
Japan’s security evolution
Cato Institute, February 2016
The future of capitalist democracy: UK-Japan perspectives
Chatham House, February 2016
The Abe restoration: Pushing past Japan’s wartime legacy and restoring a responsible use of force
Center for Strategic and International Studies, December 2015
The new Japan paradox
European Council on Foreign Relations, December 2015
Can the magic of Abenomics succeed?
Centre d’études prospectives et d’informations internationales, December 2015
Japan after two years of ‘Abenomics’
Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, March 2015
Fukushima: Four years later
Heinrich Böll Stiftung, April 2015
Japan’s Security Policy: A Shift in Direction under Abe?
Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, March 2015
The effort to stabilise the financial system in Japan: An outline and the characteristics of the programme for financial revival
Bruegel, March 2015
Japan again under Abe: Fresh start or more of the (not so great) same?
Bertelsmann Stiftung, February 2015
‘Japan is back’, including a new defense posture
Friends of Europe, October 2014.
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