This thesis explores whether there is a uniquely Japanese method of conflict management. Given the delicate balance of stability in Northeast Asia, Japanese leadership needs to use conflict management tools to resolve territorial claims with the governments of China, Russia, and South Korea. Given its desire to be a world leader, peaceful settlement of these disputes can enhance Japanαs image in the world. Japanese leaders, in the pre-modern era, had adapted Confucian principles of consensus building, order, and harmony to ensure peaceful coexistence. In an effort to be like the West in the late 19th century, late Tokugawa and early Meiji leaders began to copy western ideas concerning what it meant to be a nation which included claiming territory and even going to war to maintain sovereignty interests. In the post-World War II era, Japan was able to return to a more βharmoniousγ existence and by dealing with its territorial disputes through economic means. Japanese policy makers developed its current foreign policy based on pre-19th century ideals mixed with western realism.