<p>This paper aims to identify the characteristics of how the Asian economy has been approached as a subject of academic inquiry in Japan, by synthesizing the analyses of key literature that have evolved along post-war development trajectories since the founding of the Japan Association for Asian Studies (JAAS) in 1953.</p><p>The paper also attempts to outline new issues that have become increasingly relevant to better understand the new dynamics of the Asian economy. Of particular concern is the rising influence of non-economic factors, particularly politics, in the process of how the Asian economy is currently being shaped. For example, economic integration, manifesting itself in forms such as the global value chains (GVCs) spreading across the region, is among the most important attributes of contemporary Asian economy. While this has been the primary engine elevating countries out of poverty and bringing prosperity to the region, how these value chains will be shaped in the future is now also dependent on non-economic “values” such as human rights. These trends clearly suggest that the unfolding Asian economic dynamism can no longer be understood from a conventional economic approach alone.</p><p>Given these, what have been the uniqueness in Japan’s academic approaches in its quest for understanding the Asian economy? And what are the new perspectives that would be needed to fully comprehend the ever-changing Asian economic dynamism in the 2020s and beyond?</p><p>The paper will conclude by highlighting the importance of a multi-disciplinary approach in this particular context, which should be a collaborative process in itself, requiring proactive, open-minded, and constructive engagement from all different disciplines.</p>