Report

Institute for Future Strategy – Economic Security Cluster
Qualitative Analysis Team’s 12-Country Report on Major Geopolitical States
“Japan’s Economic Security”

The Economic Security Cluster of the Institute for Future Strategy at Seoul National University organised a research team composed of former and current officials from Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to evaluate and compile reports on the economic security strategies of twelve key partner countries. This initiative aims to analyse each country’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as its strategic relevance and interconnectedness with Korea.

This study provides a multidimensional analysis of Japan’s economic security, comprehensively examining its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. As the world’s third-largest economy, Japan possesses several key strengths: a mature democratic system, a high level of fundamental scientific and technological capability, an open and trustworthy market, and a stable international environment supported by the U.S.–Japan alliance.

However, Japan also faces significant vulnerabilities, including scarce natural resources, frequent natural disasters such as earthquakes and typhoons, prolonged economic stagnation (the so-called “Lost Three Decades”), regional decline due to ageing and depopulation, massive national debt, persistent feudal legacies and structural limits of its democracy, and a trend toward political rightward shift.

Japan’s economic policies and outcomes reflect a unique and “exceptional” interplay of these political, social, and structural factors. Rather than reducing Japan’s economic security to questions of economic strength alone, this study adopts a comprehensive analytical framework that encompasses political, social, and cultural dimensions, thereby providing a foundation for understanding Japan’s strategic behaviour and its broader implications in the realm of economic security.

Keywords:
Japan, economic security, supply chain stabilisation, Lost Three Decades, U.S.–Japan alliance, international trade, population decline, rightward shift