BETWEEN REALISM AND IDEALISM IN JAPANESE SECURITY POLICY - THE CASE OF THE ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM

While ASEAN played the leadership role for erecting the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), Japan generated positive impact on the historical trajec tory leading to the birth of the ARE This paper asks the following que stion: On what ideational foundation was Japan's support for the ARF b ased? Utilizing a conceptual framework based on the theoretical litera ture of multilateralism, the paper analyzes three major Japanese persp ectives on the ARF in the inception years (1991-95) - Idealism, Realis m, and Liberalism - while paying special attention to Liberalism, the perspective underlying Japan's actual policy. Liberalism, while leanin g toward Realism, still incorporated some elements of Idealism. For Li berals. centering around the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. the ARF was a vehicle to foster a sense of trust, however fragile, on the basis of providing and sharing quality information about China, Japan, and the United States, without undermining the existing security arrangements including the US-Japanese alliance.