Military history of Japan
After a period of U.S. occupation(1945-1952), Japan regained its independence. Japan was also forbidden to have a standing army or wage war by Article nine of its Constitution.
Although the Japanese constitution says "land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained," the Jieitai (自衛隊), or Japan Self-Defense Forces were created shortly after the end of U.S. occupation. The Jieitai is one of the most technologically advanced armed forces in the world and Japanese military expenditures are the seventh highest in the world. Though the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security, signed in 1960, allows for the continued presence of American military bases in Japan, most of them on Okinawa, no formal agreement was ever set by which Japan officially relies on the United States, United Nations, or another body for its defense.
In the aftermath of the Occupation, attempts were made by some administrations in Japan, particularly at the urging of the United States, to amend the Constitution and rearm. However, intense popular sentiment against this action, and against war in general, along with the attitudes and agendas of significant elements within the government, prevented this. In 1967, Prime Minister Eisaku Satō outlined the Three Non-Nuclear Principles by which Japan stands against its production, or possession of nuclear weaponry. Similar ideas were expressed several years later against the production and export of conventional arms.
The Diet of Japan is currently deliberating an amendment to the Constitution which would repeal Article Nine, and allow Japan to once again have projective military capacity.
For the time being, Japan has deployed the Jieitai to aid in a number of non-combat missions, especially those involving humanitarian aid, such as aiding the victims of the 1995 Kobe earthquake, providing administrative support to the United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon (UNIFIL) Norwegian Battalion (NORBATT) in the 1990s, and helping rebuild Iraq.
Some Japanese state a desire to have their own military due to fear of the growing power of China and the hostility of North Korea. They claim that the U.S. has failed to properly address these issues, and therefore Japan must grant itself "the power to defend itself".
In 2004, then-United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan announced a plan to expand the number of permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council, and Japan seeks to gain one of those seats. Despite Japan's economic power and political influence, however, it is debatable whether or not a country with no standing military can be considered a "world power" such that it would be granted a permanent seat on the Council. Recent disputes with neighboring countries like China, South Korea, and Russia over territories such as the Senkaku Islands, Liancourt Rocks, and the Kuril Islands, as well as accusations of Japanese whitewashing of history in various textbook controversies have also complicated this process.
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References
- ^ 江上波夫 騎馬民族国家 ISBN 4122011264
- Gordon, David M. "The China-Japan War, 1931-1945" Journal of Military History (Jan 2006) v 70#1, pp 137-82. Historiographical overview of major books
- Sansom, George (1958). 'A History of Japan to 1334'. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.
- Sansom, George (1961). "A History of Japan: 1334-1615." Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.
- Sansom, George (1963). "A History of Japan: 1615-1867." Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.
- Turnbull, Stephen (1998). 'The Samurai Sourcebook'. London: Cassell & Co.
- Turnbull, Stephen (2002). 'War in Japan: 1467-1615'. Oxford: Osprey Publishing.
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See also
- Military History
- World War II
- Imperial Japanese Army
- Imperial Japanese Navy
- History of Japan
- Japanese nationalism
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