Japan has just got its new Prime Minister, Yoshihide Suga. This happens after the previous Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, resigned from his post due to health reasons. Suga was pretty much an insider of Abe's administration. Suga held a ministerial position from 2006 to 2007, and was appointed Chief of Cabinet Secretary in 2012. He departed his post to assume his new role in September 2020. Shortly after being sworn in, he made some diplomatic manoeuvres by meeting officials from the US, China, Vietnam, and very recently Indonesia. With this succession of power, we would like to know, what could be Japan's foreign policy under Prime Minister Suga?

In this episode, we talked to Noto Suoneto from the Foreign Policy Talks Podcast and a current Master's Candidate in International Political Economy at the University of Birmingham about the outlook of Japan's foreign policy, and specifically its relations with Indonesia. Besides his interest in IPE, Noto Suoneto has an interest in the East Asian Affairs.

Very recently, Noto Suoneto wrote a number of articles for The Jakarta Post and The Diplomat. The links to the publications can be found below:

"After Abe, Opportunities Loom for Japan-Indonesia Relations" The Diplomat: https://thediplomat.com/2020/09/after-abe-opportunities-loom-for-japan-indonesia-relations/

"The outlook of Indonesia-Japan relations under PM Suga" The Jakarta Post: https://www.thejakartapost.com/paper/2020/09/21/the-outlook-of-indonesia-japan-relations-under-pm-suga.html

"The Challenges Facing US-Indonesia Relations Post-Trump" The Diplomat: https://thediplomat.com/2020/11/the-challenges-facing-us-indonesia-relations-post-trump/