A 2020 "Asian Security" article was the first dedicated study to detail the fifty-year history of Japanese maritime security capacity-building initiatives in Southeast Asia. It uniquely demonstrated that this history could be clearly divided into three historic phases and suggests that the Japanese initiatives may not be transitioning into a fourth phase. This history provides empirical evidence that the existing narratives regarding the evolution of Japanese policies are inadequate. This article will group the existing narratives into four clusters organised by the key variables they consider to be the predominant policy drivers. In this case, clusters are more useful than rigid categories because there is notable variety among the explanations and some are quite complex. It will then show that, given the inadequacy of all four clusters, analysis is best mostly when broadly sourced data is subjected to an eclectic approach.