Self-sufficiency vs liberalization: the economic diplomacy of Japan’s food security

In this chapter, we will explore and analyze the most recent changes in Japan’s approach to food security and how they affected Tokyo’s economic diplomacy. The Japanese authorities have traditionally tried to address the issue of food security trough a twofold strategy that combines the increase in domestic production and consumption of local products, on the one hand, and the diversification of supplysources while protecting the domestic agri-food sector with high trade barriers, on theother. From the point of view of economic diplomacy, this approach hindered the negotiations of free trade agreements (FTA) with partner countries, causing delays in their conclusion and, in some cases, an abrupt end. Abe Shinzō’s arrival in power broughtabout a decisive change of direction in the approach to food security and then to FTAs. In this chapter, we will argue that Abe’s restructuring of Japan Agriculture Cooperatives (JA) and reform of the bureaucratic personnelinside the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries have led to a newnarrative on food security, according to which the liberalization of the agricultural market is no longer perceived as a threat but as an opportunity to increase exports and the food self-sufficiency potential of Japan. Finally, we will also argue that this new approach to food security is the basis of Japan’s new economic diplomacy, more favorable and inclined to the partecipation in FTAs.