二战后日本的中东政策在各个时期有着不同的特点。二战后初期，日本的中东政策以“不重视”为基本特点，一味坚持“追随美国”的外交战略；进入20世纪70年代，随着两次“石油危机”的爆发，日本首次认识到中东地区社会稳定和经济安全对日本石油进口的重要意义，因此该阶段的日本中东政策是以“石油外交”为主要内容的经济外交；20世纪80年代，中曾根康弘确立实现“政治大国”的战略目标，日本中东政策以“政治外交”为基本特征；20世纪90年代以来，以1991年的海湾战争为节点，日本中东政策从“支票外交”向“人的贡献”转变，进入对该地区的实际干预阶段。2012年安倍上台，受福岛核泄漏事件、日本人质被杀事件、特朗普时代中东政策的转变等的影响，安倍内阁时期的日本中东政策也出现新变化。
After the World War II，there are different characristics of Japan’s Middle East policy in different times. Initially，Japan’s Middle East policy featured “indifference” which simply follows the US diplomatic strategies. With the outburst of two Oil Crisis in the 1970s，Japan for the first time realized that the social stability and economic security of the Middle East are vital for Japan’s petroleum imports. Hence，the economy-oriented diplomatic policy was known as “petro-diplomacy” in that era. In 1980s，Nakasone Yasuhiro set the goal of becoming a “Political Power”（seijitaikoku），which “not only increase Japan’s status as an economic power，but also a political power”. In this period，Japan’s Middle East policy featured “political diplomacy”. Since the 1990s，Japan transitioned from “checkbook diplomacy”（kogittegaikou）to “human resource contribution diplomacy”（hitotekikouken），and the Persian Gulf demining marked the success of Japan’s first overseas troop dispatch since the Cold War. In this period，Japan’s Middle East Policy entered the stage of actual intervention in this region. In 2012，Abe came into power. With a series of events such as “Fukushima disaster”，“Japanese hostage” and US new Middle East policy in Trump era，new changes have also taken place in Abe administration’s Middle East policy.
