Australia and Japan in the period 1976 to 1980 found life as ’mature adult partners’ (as went the metaphor of the day) far from sedate. The two governments consulted actively, there was a little innovation and rather more frustration. Many of the policies towards Japan of the new Liberal-National Country Party government under Mr Malcolm Fraser reflected some of the aims of the previous Labor government in managing the impact of Australia’s foreign relations on the domestic economy. But the accent of the Fraser government was deliberately placed on stability, continuity and reliability. On some issues foreign policy choices were not clear, since several underlying problems – mainly of domestic political institutions and constraints in both countries – were close to the surface. In 1980, several of the same problems remained – notably iron ore and coal pricing, and access to the Japanese market for Australian agricultural products – although confidence was buoyant on both sides.

“The honeymoon is about to be over. It has given a real sense of partnership between Australia and Japan, but now we can come down to discuss business”. According to the Japan Times, this was the message with which Mr Kiichi Miyazawa (at that time Minister for International Trade and Industry) greeted journalists on his arrival in Sydney in April 1971. This was no more than a complaint about the Australian tariff system, which discriminated against Japanese manufactures in favour of British. Such complaints were a regular feature of Australian–Japanese relations and became more frequent in the minor troughs of the Japanese business cycle that regularly followed each new peak of Japanese economic growth. “The end of the honeymoon” was, however, an arresting phrase and it was often remembered during the years that followed when, against the background of the world recession, the boundless expectations of the preceding period gave place to a more sober reality. In this paper, I shall attempt to gauge the extent of this reappraisal.

In the preceding volume in this series Professor Macmahon Ball has described how in the period 1952 to 1960 the following factors operated to reconcile Australians to Japan: (1) with the realisation that Japan could again become a threat to Australia only if allied to her powerful Communist neighbours came the realisation that Japan must be assured of friendship, prosperity and international respect by the members of the Western camp; (2) the desire to fall in with Washington’s policies; (3) increasing dependence on Japan as a market. He also noted that, beyond the level of policy, good relations were being strengthened at the popular level as more and more Australians visited Japan as tourists and traders. He predicted that political relations between the two countries would become closer and indicated points at which, he hoped, Australia would take advantage of Japan’s special interests or capacities