For over three decades Japan has consistently pursued its goal of winning a permanent seat at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). Unfortunately, it has not been successful in achieving its long-standing ambition due to a number of domestic and international hurdles. This article examines why Japan deserves a UNSC permanent seat and whether its membership, in a manner commensurate with its world status as an evolving catalytic “soft power” and a major contributor to the United Nations, would make a meaningful difference for the renovated universal body in the years ahead.
