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97-1050 F
December 11, 1997Japan-U.S. Relations: Issues and
Outlook-Findings of a CRS Seminar
Robert G. Sutter
Senior Specialist in International Politics
Foreign Affairs and National Defense DivisionSummary
A CRS seminar on current issues in U.S.-Japan relations focused on salient
economic and security difficulties affecting the generally cooperative U.S.-Japan
alliance relationship.1 On economic questions, participants concluded that the
combination of Japan's slow growth, a depreciating yen relative to the U.S. dollar,
curbed export opportunities in Asia, and halting steps toward Japanese economic
deregulation presages a growing Japanese trade surplus that is certain to try U.S.
patience. Regarding security issues, participants acknowledged that recently announced
U.S.-Japan defense guidelines were mutually beneficial, but raised questions about the
Japanese government's ability to implement them expeditiously and effectively. Some
also noted that the guidelines do little to alter basic asymmetries in the U.S.-Japanese
security relations that could be difficult to manage, especially during a regional crisis
involving both countries' interests.
U.S.-Japan Cooperation and Differences2
The United States and Japan have long shared goals of mutual economic well being
and regional stability. In economic terms, the two countries have become increasingly
interdependent: the United States is by far Japan's most important foreign market and
Japan's market is the most valuable single country market for the United States, after
This report draws in part on information presented at a CRS-hosted seminar held on
October 29, 1997. This seminar was made possible in part by a grant from the Henry M. Jackson
Foundation. It heard presentations on U.S.-Japan economic issues by Tetsuo Kondo, former
Minister in the Japanese Economic Planning Agency, Osamu Nariai, Reitaku University, William
Cooper, CRS, and Dick Nanto, CRS. It heard presentations on U.S.-Japan Security issues by
Admiral Michael McDevitt, Center for Analysis, Yoshihisa Komori, Editor-at-Large, Sankei
Shimbun, Richard Cronin, CRS, and Larry Niksch, CRS.
2 For background, see among others CRS Issue Brief 97004, Japan-U.S. Relations: Issues
for Congress in the 1990s.Congressional Research Service + The Library of Congress
CRS Report for Congress
Received through the CRS Web
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Japan-U.S. Relations: Issues and Outlook—Findings of a CRS Seminar, report, December 11, 1997; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc820700/m1/1/: accessed May 21, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.