Japan is a member state of the United Nations, the G8, and the G4 nations, and is a major donor in international aid and development efforts, donating 0.19% of its Gross National Income in 2004.

Japan has territorial disputes over islands that were controlled by Japan before World War II. They are the four southern islands of the Kuril Islands, administered by Russia, as well as the Liancourt Rocks (Dokdo in Korean, Takeshima in Japanese), administered by South Korea, and the Senkaku Islands (Chinese Diaoyutai), claimed by both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China (Taiwan). The disputes are in part about the control of marine and natural resources, such as possible reserves of crude oil and natural gas.

Junichiro Koizumi in the official 2005 G8 leaders portrait