序論　一九八〇年代の日米関係

抄録

The study of the history of US-Japan relations has developed as a research field within political and diplomatic history of modern Japan. The United States is Japan’s only official ally and ranks second, after China, as Japan’s largest trading partner in terms of total imports and exports. Discussing relations with the United States is directly related to discussing Japanese diplomacy itself. In addition, the accessibility of historical documents in both the United States and Japan has been promoted, creating an environment that fosters empirical research and encourages ongoing studies. Moreover, the relationship with the United States continually raises questions about what national autonomy truly means.

The study of history of US-Japan relations also has been accepted as a field of international relations studies in Japan. Since the founding of the Japan Association of International Relations in 1957, the historical approach has been an established method of international relations studies in Japan. Moreover, studying the history of US-Japan relations as a field of international politics has profound significance. First, as long as sovereign states remain primary actors in international politics, specific bilateral relationships can influence the nature of international politics, and the exploration of US-Japan relations essentially constitutes an analysis of the phenomena that manifest in international relations. Second, research on the history of US-Japan relations is expected to contribute to the study of alliance theory.

The history of US-Japan relations, centered on political and diplomatic history, primarily divides periods into 10-year units for discussion. While empirical research began to partially include the period from the 1980s onward, following the further advancement of the disclosure of diplomatic records, the depiction of the 1980s as “a narrative of US-Japan cooperation in the political realm in the context of a new Cold War, and on the other hand, a narrative of US-Japan confrontation and friction in the economic realm,” has not significantly changed. What awaits further progress in empirical research is Japan’s foreign policy and US-Japan relations during the last years of the Cold War.

It is, however, difficult to analyze the 1980s as a strictly defined period between 1979 and 1989. Considering the long-term trends in international politics and the developments in US-Japan relations since the 1970s, it appears necessary to discuss the history of US-Japan relations in the 1980s within a slightly expanded timespan, encompassing the changes in economic and security relations from the 1970s to the mid-1990s. The articles that make up this special issue are intended to contribute to the study of US-Japan relations during such a “long 1970s.”