Australia and Japan have come to rely on each other for their economic security. However, they both share a worrisome distancing from their Asian neighbours. For a variety of reasonssome similar, some dissimilar, but all of them potentthey remain outsiders in the Asia-Pacific region. They are often perceived as states that relate awkwardly, sometimes counterproductively within the region: with each other, and with other regional contenders and would-be partners. This is evident in the suspicious pragmatism with which a rising China, for example, treats both Japan and Australiafor different reasons but with almost identical consequences. The causes of this alienation from mainstream Asia lie first in Australia's clinging to its British past and its dependence on its alliance with the Unites States. Secondly, Japan's failure to face up to its record of militarism during the Pacific War seriously constrains its relations with countries in the regionall of whom suffered from the crazy Japanese ambition to create a 'Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere'. And Japan's reliance on the US security umbrella aggravates its isolation. Australia and Japan need to work together to help overcome their respective though similar forms of estrangement within the Asia-Pacific region. © 2010 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.