Japan and the EU [What Think Tanks are thinking]

After more than two decades of economic stagnation, Japan is pushing ahead with a 'three arrow' reform package aimed at reviving growth through fiscal stimulus, monetary easing and structural changes, a strategy known as 'Abenomics', after the name of Liberal Democrat Prime Minister Shinzō Abe. The reforms are being pursued against a challenging background of high government debt, an ageing population and a fragile external security environment, with, for example, North Korea pushing ahead with its nuclear arms programme. As advanced industrialised democracies, the EU and Japan have many common interests and values. The scope of the overall relationship has broadened in recent years, along the lines foreseen in the 2001 Action Plan. The EU and Japan are currently working towards a new Framework Agreement and a Free Trade Agreement. This note offers links to recent commentaries, studies and reports from major international think tanks on relations between Japan and the EU, as well as on economic and political developments in that country.