Japan, it is said, is advancing rapidly on the road to great power status. On that assumption, people ask how Japan's domestic and foreign policies will be shaped by its new status. In attempting to respond to that question I will begin by challenging the assumption.

The so-called "big power status" really means nothing to the ordinary Japanese, and no domestic issues have ever arisen because some Japanese demanded domestic or foreign policies appropriate to that status. So far, the notion of Japan's being a "big power" has been entirely foreign in origin, and the Japanese, gasping in the world's most polluted air and feeling sick with the world's worst food and water, can scarcely think of Japan as a big power. Under the circumstances it will be very difficult for the Japanese government to conduct its foreign policy in ways historically associated with the behavior of big powers.