Building on the earlier report "Australia and Japan Beyond the Mainstream", which introduced the term "New Complementarity" into the Australia-Japan economic discourse, this project will have two sections:

1. Analysis and evaluation of the recent development and future prospects of the broad economic and geopolitical relationship between Australia and Japan, including goods and services trade, direct and portfolio investment, JAEPA and security cooperation. This section will show the many new areas of economic engagement and the diversity of new investments across many sectors.

2. Formulation and exploration of a new concept of Total Economic Engagement, which will be a weighted index of trade, investment and institutional alignment. It will be argued that investment ties have a greater value than trade figures suggest and that value should be assigned to institutional factors that enhance and support the economic factors. This richer framework shows the Australia-Japan relationship looms much larger than the trade figures indicate.

Key dates: The report will be launched in mid-February 2016 and presented at a series of seminars in late February.

Total project value: $17,500

Australia-Japan Foundation grant: $8,800