Australia must keep Japan central to its future plans

Australia needs to ramp up its already strong ties with Japan in the face of rapidly accelerating economic, environmental and social changes in both countries and a dramatically changing geopolitical environment, a leading expert from The Australian National University (ANU) says. Associate Professor Shiro Armstrong, Director of the ANU Australia-Japan Research Centre, has made the call to action in a major new report, Reimagining the Japan Relationship .  "Japan is Australia's benchmark relationship in Asia," Associate Professor Armstrong said. "It is the world's third largest economy, Australia's second largest source of investment and until a fall in commodity trade in 2020, was Australia's second largest trading partner. "Australia's relationship with Japan has never been closer. Prime Minister Scott Morrison's trip to Japan one year ago for an in-person summit with then Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga was his only official trip overseas that year and the only visit to another country as prime minister in close to 19 months. "But the Japan relationship must be reimagined if it is to cope with major challenges that both countries face at home and abroad if it is to survive and thrive in the 21st century."    A key challenge both countries will need to solve in partnership is how to address climate change and meet future energy needs. Australia supplies two thirds of Japan's key industrial materials and close to one third of its entire energy needs.