Hidetoshi Nakamura, Associate Professor (Waseda University)
The European Union (EU) has behaved as an international actor in a variety of fields/issues. In this context, the EU has developed 'political relations' with Japan. EU-Japan political relations have revolved around various fields/issues: trade, investment, industrial cooperation, finance, agriculture, development aid, environment protection, and even security. The EU and Japan have created several frameworks for political dialogue, and several Japanese ministries, particularly the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, have been dialogue partners. An annual summit meeting between the EU and Japan has been held since July 1991, when the first Joint Declaration was adopted at The Hague. Ten years later, in December 2001, the EU and Japan adopted a document entitled 'Sharing Our Common Future: An Action Plan for EU-Japan Cooperation'. This action plan has been reviewed annually. This seminar class will examine those developments in EU-Japan political relations.