Crafting policy toward Asia is a difficult balancing act for Japan. Saddled by ill will in Asia left over from its militarist legacy of the first half of the twentieth century on the one hand and restrained by a United States eager to maintain its own position of power in Asia on the other, Japan has had to pick a narrow path. Its strong economic links to Asia have necessitated continuous and cordial relations with its Asian neighbors, and, as the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s revealed, those links keep Asia and Japan's fortunes tied closely together. This book gives a comprehensive account of Japan's Asian policy, its historical background and its current bilateral and regional interactions, as well as explores how those have changed or remained the same in the wake of the Asian financial crisis.