COMPLETION REPORT
Struggle for Recognition of Postwar Japan: A comparative Study of Japan’s Self-identification in Relationswith China and USDr. Seunghee OH
Research Professor
Global Institute for Japanese Studies, Korea University
Struggle for Recognition of Postwar Japan:
A Comparative Study of Japan’s Self-identification in relations with China and US
The term of ‘Struggle for recognition’ can explain the great transformation in foreign policy. This research explains
Japan’s foreign policy in terms of the struggle for recognition. The mechanism of recognition among states can besummarized through self-identification, self-justification and moral representation. First, self-identification is how
one identifies oneself in terms of one’s relations with others. When Japan dealt with recognizing China Issue, it
faced the process of self-identification. Then, Japan defined its national identity in the context of the struggle forrecognition. To be recognized as sovereign by others, Japan recognized others as sovereign. Japan’s policy
decision makers have kept Japan’s national identity in mind, in terms of the gap between the ideal and reality of theself and others.
How does Japanese government identify itself and justify its foreign policy toward China and US? It can be
explained with its national and government interests. Cold War Ideology(CI) model has justified the US-Japan
cooperation, History and Culture(HC) model has represented cooperation with PRC, and Regional
Cooperation(RC) model is a way to enhance the role of Japan as a mediator between Asia and the West. Changes
in the justification type served as the basis for strengthening the legitimacy of postwar Japan and the legitimacy ofregime change.
Above all, Japanese government's international normative orientation was to overcome the identity of the defeatedJapanese nation and secure its legitimacy. Domestically, justification for supporting changes in Chinese or US
policy played a major role in securing and strengthening the legitimacy of the regime. It appears the foreign policy
makers strengthening the legitimacy of the regime and state by justifying it as a norm in the pursuit of the interestsof the regime and the interests of the state. It will be possible to expand to comparative studies with examples ofvarious countries or regimes in the future.
In this research, an attempt was made to analyze the text network by extracting the China/US-related part of thediplomatic bluebook from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. This research approaches to the Japanese
foreign policy with problem-oriented, contextual, and multi-method in orientation. In looking more closely at how
the words of the international normative types are used, it will be helpful to gauge the direction of Japanese foreignpolicy.

Publication of the Results of Research Project:
Verbal Presentation (Date, Venue, Name of Conference, Title of Presentation, Presenter, etc.)
Oh, S. May 2017. “Struggle for Recognition of the postwar Japan.” Seminar of the Korean Association ofContemporary Japanese Studies (Seoul, Korea).
Oh, S. June 2017. “Struggle for Recognition in Sino-Japanese Relations.” Colloquium of 2017 Center for East
Asian Studies, Sungshin University (Seoul, Korea).
Oh, S. September 2017. “International Norm-Orientation in Japan’s China Policy.” 2017 Annual Meeting ofAmerican Political Science Association (San Francisco, CA, US).
Oh, S. October 2017. “International Norm-Orientation in Japan’s China Policy.” (Tianjin, China)
Oh, S. December 2017. “From Japan-Korea Normalization to Sino-Japanese Normalization: A comparative
Study of Japan’s Diplomatic Normalization with Korea and China (1965-1972).” (Niigata, Japan)
Oh, S. April 2018. “Comparative studies of Japan’s post-war settlement with China and Japan.” (Daejeon,Korea)

Thesis (Name of Journal and its Date, Title and Author of Thesis, etc.)
On the process. Research papers will be submitted in the journals.
Book (Publisher and Date of the Book, Title and Author of the Book, etc.)
The edited version of upcoming papers could be published in a book.