For decades, Japan's foreign policy has been seen by both internal and external observers as abnormal in relation to its size and level of sophistication. Japan as a 'Normal Country'? is a thematic and geographically comparative discussion of the unique limitations of Japanese foreign and defence policy. The contributors reappraise the definition of normality and ask whether Japan is indeed abnormal, what it would mean to become normal, and whether the country can—or should—become so. Identifying constraints such as an inflexible constitution, inherent antimilitarism, and its position as a U.S. security client, Japan as a 'Normal Country'? goes on to analyse factors that could make Japan a more effective regional and global player. These essays ultimately consider how Japan could leverage its considerable human, cultural, technological, and financial capital to benefit both its citizens and the world.
The so-called pacifist clause of the Japanese Constitution (Article 9) binds the Japanese people forever to renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes. Beyond Pacifism argues that Japan must either repeal Article 9, or face a future in which Japan might be compelled to surrender sovereign authority in order to appease one or more of its immediate neighbors. If Japan cannot free itself of the constraints of its constitutional pacifism and choose to become a normal nation, willing and able to defend itself and its interests, it must endure what former Prime Minister Koizumi describes as the peace of slaves. Since 1952 Japan has followed the path of reinterpreting Article 9 in order to work around its pacifist strictures. Many Japanese party leaders—including prime ministers Abe and Koizumi—have called for Article 9 to be revised by the addition of a clause authorizing the use of force for the purpose of self-defense against aggression directed against the Japanese nation. Most foreign commentators and scholars urge Tokyo to continue to work around Article 9 without amendment. By contrast, the author argues that neither reinterpretation nor revision will allow Japan to counter the growing military threats from North Korea and China. Japan's health as a democratic state, contends Middlebrooks, requires an honest re-alignment of its law with its modern national identity, which is normal and no longer poses a militaristic threat to regional stability.
The so-called pacifist clause of the Japanese Constitution (Article 9) binds the Japanese people forever to renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes. Beyond Pacifism argues that Japan must either repeal Article 9, or face a future in which Japan might be compelled to surrender sovereign authority in order to appease one or more of its immediate neighbors. If Japan cannot free itself of the constraints of its constitutional pacifism and choose to become a normal nation, willing and able to defend itself and its interests, it must endure what former Prime Minister Koizumi describes as the peace of slaves. Since 1952 Japan has followed the path of reinterpreting Article 9 in order to work around its pacifist strictures. Many Japanese party leaders—including prime ministers Abe and Koizumi—have called for Article 9 to be revised by the addition of a clause authorizing the use of force for the purpose of self-defense against aggression directed against the Japanese nation. Most foreign commentators and scholars urge Tokyo to continue to work around Article 9 without amendment. By contrast, the author argues that neither reinterpretation nor revision will allow Japan to counter the growing military threats from North Korea and China. Japan's health as a democratic state, contends Middlebrooks, requires an honest re-alignment of its law with its modern national identity, which is normal and no longer poses a militaristic threat to regional stability.
Constitutional research committees in both the upper and lower houses of the Japanese Diet have begun discussing Article 9 of Japan's constitution. Japan traditionally has interpreted this article as prohibiting collective defense, including joint military operations with U.S. forces and collective security activities like UN peacekeeping operations. These discussions respond to changes in the security environment surrounding Japan, where collective self- defense is becoming increasingly vital. This thesis suggests that it is not a matter of if but when Japan will revise or reinterpret its constitution to authorize Japanese forces to participate in collective defense. To support this argument, it analyzes the evolutionary process Japan has pursued since the end of the Cold War to become a "normal" country. For Japan to become a "normal" country, it must implement significant economic and political reform. Based on this requirement this thesis evaluates the prospects for change by analyzing the internal and external forces driving Japan to revise its constitution. It then discusses various approaches and policy options Japan may pursue. It evaluates the most probable approach Japan may take and the impact such an approach may have on U.S. force structure in Japan. Finally, this thesis presents the U.S. debate over forward basing versus forward presence to assess the approach the United States should take toward force structure in Japan. This thesis argues in favor of Japan becoming an equal partner in the U.S.-Japan alliance. It concludes with recommendations on how the United States should respond and suggests several approaches the United States should take toward Japan, arguing that it is in both the United States' and Japan's interest for it to assume an equitable burden sharing role in the U.S.-Japan relationship.
A must read for businessmen and Japan watchers, this official version of the political bombshell translated privately by the CIA is the incisive and unprecedented one-man political manifesto of the former secretary-general of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic party. "Far reaching".--Henry Kissinger.
The U.S.-Japan Alliance: Past, Present, and Future explains the inner workings of the U.S.-Japan alliance and recommends new approaches to sustaining this critical bilateral security relationship.
Japan's National Security offers a detailed examination of Japan's distinctive security policy. It traces in considerable detail the evolution of Japan's approach to the economic, political and military dimensions of national structures of government as well as a particular set of relations between state and society. One of the noteworthy aspects of this book is its detailed attention to the transnational links between the Japanese and the American militaries. The book accords a special place of the interaction between the legal and social norms that have affected Japanese conceptions of national security since 1945. Japan's National Security offers an important, meticulously researched, and up-to-date perspective on the role that Japan is likely to play after the Cold War. Together with Defending the Japanese State, these two monographs analyze the structures and norms that are shaping Japan's policy on internal and national security. The specific focus is on governmental, state-society and transnational structures as well as the social and legal norms that affect the policies of Japan's police and self-defense forces.
“[A]n excellent book...” —The Economist Financial Times Asia editor David Pilling presents a fresh vision of Japan, drawing on his own deep experience, as well as observations from a cross section of Japanese citizenry, including novelist Haruki Murakami, former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi, industrialists and bankers, activists and artists, teenagers and octogenarians. Through their voices, Pilling's Bending Adversity captures the dynamism and diversity of contemporary Japan. Pilling’s exploration begins with the 2011 triple disaster of earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown. His deep reporting reveals both Japan’s vulnerabilities and its resilience and pushes him to understand the country’s past through cycles of crisis and reconstruction. Japan’s survivalist mentality has carried it through tremendous hardship, but is also the source of great destruction: It was the nineteenth-century struggle to ward off colonial intent that resulted in Japan’s own imperial endeavor, culminating in the devastation of World War II. Even the postwar economic miracle—the manufacturing and commerce explosion that brought unprecedented economic growth and earned Japan international clout might have been a less pure victory than it seemed. In Bending Adversity Pilling questions what was lost in the country’s blind, aborted climb to #1. With the same rigor, he revisits 1990—the year the economic bubble burst, and the beginning of Japan’s “lost decades”—to ask if the turning point might be viewed differently. While financial struggle and national debt are a reality, post-growth Japan has also successfully maintained a stable standard of living and social cohesion. And while life has become less certain, opportunities—in particular for the young and for women—have diversified. Still, Japan is in many ways a country in recovery, working to find a way forward after the events of 2011 and decades of slow growth. Bending Adversity closes with a reflection on what the 2012 reelection of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and his radical antideflation policy, might mean for Japan and its future. Informed throughout by the insights shared by Pilling’s many interview subjects, Bending Adversity rigorously engages with the social, spiritual, financial, and political life of Japan to create a more nuanced representation of the oft-misunderstood island nation and its people. The Financial Times “David Pilling quotes a visiting MP from northern England, dazzled by Tokyo’s lights and awed by its bustling prosperity: ‘If this is a recession, I want one.’ Not the least of the merits of Pilling’s hugely enjoyable and perceptive book on Japan is that he places the denunciations of two allegedly “lost decades” in the context of what the country is really like and its actual achievements.” The Telegraph (UK) “Pilling, the Asia editor of the Financial Times, is perfectly placed to be our guide, and his insights are a real rarity when very few Western journalists communicate the essence of the world’s third-largest economy in anything but the most superficial ways. Here, there is a terrific selection of interview subjects mixed with great reportage and fact selection... he does get people to say wonderful things. The novelist Haruki Murakami tells him: “When we were rich, I hated this country”... well-written... valuable.” Publishers Weekly (starred): "A probing and insightful portrait of contemporary Japan."
