Japan Begins to Throw Off Pacifism
Japan is a country which has not yet come to terms with World War II. The atrocities committed by the Imperial Army in the name of the motherland have not been fully explored nor even accepted by the Japanese people. Their expansion into China, Korea and much of the Far East caught the ever watchful eyes of the civilized world and demanded they stop incursions. It was the actions of the US to pressure Japan into relinquishing their hold on China which led to their attack on Pearl Harbor. In the end Japan’s refusal to end the war even though they were loosing led to the atomic bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Afterwards the Japanese people tended to reject militarism on any scale. The very idea of possessing weapons of mass destruction was an anathema to the Japanese culture. Even their constitution inaugurated a new era of pacifism which was codified in article 9 and continues to this day.
Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes. 2) In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized.
After WWII and Japan turned away from war and militarism, they aspired to be pacifists and threw off the vestiges of the nationalism, imperialism, and patriotism which led to decades of conflict ranging from WWI through WWII. Instead of having a military capable of projecting power, Japan instituted a national self-defense force for their protection. Gone was any idea of militarization.
According to Japanese security policy, maintaining a military establishment is only one method — and by no means the best method — to achieve national security. Diplomacy, economic aid and development, and a close relationship with the United States under the terms of the 1960 security treaty are all considered more important. Japan is keeping military expenditure at only 1% of GDP, even though this is still a very significant amount. Japan’s posture is a defensive one, with no weapons of mass destruction, no long-range bombers, no middle or long-range missiles, no aircraft carriers and no nuclear submarines. But Japan has considerable conventional weapons, and wants to use its Self-Defence Forces for peacekeeping operations. Japan is however very concerned over the military build-up in East Asia.
During the Cold War, Japan lived under the protection of America’s nuclear umbrella. They were content to let America protect them even though US presidents urged a more robust military to help with their protection. Japan never really felt threatened by the USSR. But with the militarization of China and nuclearization of North Korea, Japan apparently feels threatened. For the first time since the end of WWII, Japan will once again bolster military spending. Along with that is a call for patriotism.
Japan’s conservative government chipped away at two pillars of the country’s postwar pacifism, requiring schools to teach patriotism and upgrading the Defense Agency to a full ministry for the first time since World War II.
The measures, enacted Friday in a vote by Parliament’s upper house, form key elements of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s push to bolster Japan’s international military role, build up national pride and distance the country from its post-1945 war guilt.
Today, Japan is the fifth largest military spender only behind the United States, China, Russia, and France. In 2005 they spent $45 billion the military, but the Japanese are sure to spend more. As China’s growing military strength begins to threaten the Pacific Rim, North Korea’s insistence on nuclear weapons, and the US forces stretched with troops in both Afghanistan and Iraq, Japan can no longer afford to be passive about their security.
The Japanese people have been a strong and reliable partner of the United States. Their democracies work together economically, militarily, and politically. Japan is a good ally of the United States. A strong Japan with a viable military could not do anything but help the US as the Pacific Rim becomes more unstable.
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