Japanese leaders and often the media too have substituted symbols for strategy in dealing with Asia. This comprehensive review of four periods over twenty years exposes the strategic gap in viewing individually and collectively China, Taiwan, the Korean peninsula, Russia, Central Asia, and regionalism.

Overview: G.Rozman, K.Togo & J.P.Ferguson PART 1: CHRONOLOGY Japanese Strategic Thought toward Asia in the 1980s; T.Inoguchi Japan's Strategic Thinking toward Asia in the First Half of the 1990s; T.Hasegawa Japan's Strategic Thinking in the Second Half of the 1990s; K.Togo Japanese Strategy under Koizumi; T.J.Pempel PART 2: GEOGRAPHY Changing Japanese Strategic Thinking toward China; R.Kokubun Japanese Strategic Thinking toward Taiwan; M.Wan Japanese Strategic Thinking toward Korea; C.H.Park Japanese Strategic Thinking toward Russia; J.P.Ferguson Japan's Strategic Thinking toward Central Asia; A.Kawato Japanese Strategic Thinking on Regionalism; G.Rozman