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In 2020，Japan’s domestic politics，economy and society have been all seriously hit affected by the outbreak of COVID-19. Although the LDP has maintained its strong political dominance，the former prime minister Shinzo Abe had to resign under pressure and his assistant Suga Yoshihide was elected as new LDP president and then the 99th prime minister of Japan. The spread of COVID-19 has had tremendous negative impact on Japan’s economy，trade，consumption and investment，with the Tokyo Olympic Games 2020 been forced to be postponed，causing huge losses to Japan，which had high expectation for the effect of Olympic Games in promoting the tourism and stimulating the consumption and investment.

In the first quarter of 2020，Japan’s real GDP decreased by 0.9%，or 3.4% on the annual basis，a decline for two consecutive quarters. After Japanese government released the emergency declaration in April，Japan’s real GDP decreased by 8.3%，or 29.2% on the annual basis，the largest decline since the end of WWII. In order to reverse the downward trend of the economy，the Japanese government launched the the program of “Go To Campaign”，however，the program has to be suspended it emergently under the dilemma between fighting the epidemic and pushing for “economic recovery”. The COVID-19 has caused more than 200，000 infections and over 30，000 deaths in Japan in 2020 and had a wide and far-reaching impact on Japanese society，deteriorating the financial situation，increasing unemployment population，reducing family income and deepening relative poverty，especially the life of Japanese women facing unprecedented difficulties.

Under the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic，Abe’s attempt of the “post-war diplomatic final solution” was further frustrated in its diplomacy towards neighbouring countries，with Japan-Russia relations having little progress and the Kuril Islands issue remaining stalled due to the effect of the amendment to the Russian Constitution. Relations between Japan and the Korean Peninsula have been still in difficulties. Japan-DPRK relations still remain in an impasse，with DPRK having not responded to Japan’s offer of unconditional dialogue. The negative impact of historical issues between Japan and ROK continues to ferment，with the Japan-ROK relations at a low ebb and without any sign of improvement. In 2020，Japanese diplomacy has made new progress in Southeast Asia while its relations with neighbouring countries remaining frustrated. The impact of the COVID-19 epidemic has made Japan more aware of the importance of Southeast Asia in the geographical competition between China and Japan. In order to strengthen the cooperation between Japan and ASEAN countries，Japan insists on carrying out concrete diplomacy in that region regardless of the impact of the epidemic. The new prime minister Suga chose Southeast Asia as the destination of his first foreign visit.