Chapter Five: Japan's External Military Commitments

Abstract

Is Japan on a path towards assuming a greater military role internationally, or has the recent military normalisation ground to a halt since the premiership of Junichiro Koizumi? In this book, Christopher W. Hughes assesses developments in defence expenditure, civil–military relations, domestic and international military–industrial complexes, Japan's procurement of regional and global power-projection capabilities, the expansion of US–Japan cooperation, and attitudes towards nuclear weapons, constitutional revision and the use of military force.

In all of these areas, dynamic and long-term changes outweigh Japan's short-term political logjam over security policy. Hughes argues that many post-war constraints on Japan's military role are still eroding, and that Tokyo is moving towards a more assertive military role and strengthened US–Japan cooperation. Japan's remilitarisation will boost its international security role and the dominance of the US–Japan alliance in regional and global security affairs, but will need to be carefully managed if it is not to become a source of destabilising tensions.

Notes

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For these MSDF figures and full details on its mission in the Indian Ocean up until 2007, see Boeisho, ‘Kyu Terotaisaku Tokusoho ni Motozuku Taio Socchi no Kekka ni Tsuite’, 1 January 2008, http://www.mod.go.jp/j/news/hokyushien/pdf/siryou_080311.pdf.

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Boeishohen, Boei Hakusho 2008, p. 233.

Asahi Shimbun Jieitai 50nen Shuzaiha, Jieitai Shirarezaru Henyo (Tokyo: Asahi Shimbunsha, 2005), pp. 52–8.

Tetsuo Maeda, Jieitai: Henyo no Yukie (Tokyo: Iwanami Shinsho, 2007), pp. 66, 73; ‘All GSDF Troops Safely Home from Historic Mission to Iraq’, Japan Times Online, 26 July 2006, http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20060726f3.html.

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‘Schieffer's Call for Missile Defense Help Raises Constitution Issue’, Japan Times Online, 28 October 2006, http://search.japantimes.co.jp/print/nn20061028a7.html; ‘Collective Defense Ban Crazy: Lawless’, ibid., 7 December 2006, http://search.japantimes.co.jp/print/nn.20061207a3.html; ‘US Calls on Japan To Shield It From Missiles’, ibid., 17 May 2007, http://search.japantimes.co.jp/print/nn20070517a2.html.

‘Japan, US Vow Tighter Military, Security Ties’, ibid., 2 May 2007, http://search.japantimes.co.jp/print/nn20070502a2.html; ‘Nichibei, Gunji Himitsu Hogo e Kyotei 2 Purasu 2 de Goi’, Asahi Shimbun, 2 May 2007, http://www.asahi.com/politics/update/0501/TKY200705010443.html.

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