Central Asia and Japan: Bilateral and multilateral relations

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

With the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1991s Central Asian nations and Japan established diplomatic relations and partnership began to increase steadily as manifested by the level of official contacts. In 1997 the “Silk Road” Diplomacy concept was formulated for Japan's policy toward Central Asia.


In the beginning of 21st century we see activization of new actors including India, Korea and Japan in Central Asia, which were mainly welcomed in the region. Tokyo recognized the growing strategic importance of Central Asia in the context of international security and sought to play a more active role as an Asian nation in Eurasia.


During two decades Central Asian nations and Japan partnership began to increase steadily. Japan is one of the largest assistants to Central Asia in structural reforms and Japanese investments to the different aspects of region economy and transport communication add up to several billions. There are several areas of special interest to Japan in its relations with Central Asia, including cooperation in education, economic development of the region, political reforms, as well as energy resources.


Japan's effort in creating the “Central Asia plus Japan” dialog is part of its multilateral diplomacy. At the same time there are some challenges and problems in Central Asia–Japan relations. However, there are potentialities for future bilateral and multilateral relations.


Japan like Korea, India and other countries has a strong positive image in Central Asia, which could be regarded as an additional factor for fostering partnership of Central and East Asia as well as interregional relation with the vast Asian continent and beyond.

참고문헌 (Reference)

1 Zhukova, L., "Uzbekistan and Japan on the reviving silk road" Tashkent 2007

2 Rakhimov, M., "South and central Asian studiesThe Shanghai cooperation organization and Eurasian Geopolitics: New directions and new perspectives" Stockholm University 2013

3 Kawato, A., "Japan’s silk road diplomacy. Paving the road ahead, silk road monograph" The Central Asia and Caucasus Institute 2008

4 Iwashita, A., "Japan’s silk road diplomacy. Paving the road ahead, silk road monograph" The Central Asia and Caucasus Institute 2008

5 Len, C., "Japan’s silk road diplomacy. Paving the road ahead, silk road monograph" The Central Asia and Caucasus Institute 2008

6 Marat, E., "Japan’s silk road diplomacy. Paving the road ahead, silk road monograph" The Central Asia and Caucasus Institute 2008

7 Dadabaev, T., "Japan’s silk road diplomacy. Paving the road ahead, silk road monograph" The Central Asia and Caucasus Institute 2008

8 Uyama, T., "Japan’s diplomacy towards Central Asia in the Context of Japan’s Asian diplomacy and Japan–U.S relations" Brooking Institution Press 2009

9 Khoshimov, V., "Foreign policy of Japan and Central Asia" JIIA 2008

10 Nurgaliyev, M., "Development of the Shanghai cooperation organization and diplomacy of Japan towards the Central Asia" JIIA 2008

11 Yuasa, T., "Central Asia in the context of Japanese–Russian relations" 8 (8): 2010