Abstract
Japan’s “Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy” was announced as recently as November 2016. However, it may be argued that Japan has been acting in accordance with this principle for over a decade in the Indo-Pacific region. While the Asia–Africa Growth Corridor and the “quadrilateral” initiative could be called the latest and more visible manifestations of this strategy, they are definitely not the first. This paper explores two core elements of the Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy, namel, regional connectivity and proactive contribution to peace, and highlights Japan’s initiatives in this regard in the Indo-Pacific.