Governing from 2009-2012, the landslide election of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) was supposed to usher in a new era in Japanese politics. Within three years, they were out of office, and shortly afterwards the party dissolved. This chapter examines the DPJ's foreign policy and how a combination of US 'scholar-officials', conservative Japanese media, and the long dominant Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) successfully painted the DPJ as 'failing' in foreign policy. Raising questions as to what extent the DPJ really did 'fail', the chapter demonstrates the discursive power of not only the conservative media, but also of the US commentators, officials, and scholars who joined in the effort to discredit the DPJ and help the LDP back into power.
New publication on Japanese foreign policy.
Paul O'Shea has written a chapter on the topic of Japanese foreign policy under the Democratic Party of Japan.