Normalizing Japan

'Normalizing Japan' discusses the future direction Japan's military policies are likely to take by considering how policy has evolved since the Second World War, and what factors shaped this evolution.

This book assesses the Sino-Japanese strategic competition in the context of the South China Sea (SCS) territorial disputes. The South China Sea territorial disputes are quickly becoming the most significant security problem in East and Southeast Asia. Two major powers, China and Japan, have interests in the region and are pursuing different strategies that can significantly impact the outcome of the disputes. Utilizing Securitization Theory, this study evaluates the Sino-Japanese strategic competition through political narratives that galvanize the military and economic policies that are transforming the region. It highlights how these narratives, so closely bounded to the political legitimacy of current governments and supported by provocative policies, have resulted in a co-constitutive pattern of enmity and securitization, thus making it increasingly difficult to resolve the disputes.

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.

This student-friendly text provides a detailed and up-to-date assessment of Japan's foreign policy since 1945, including policy options and choices that Japan faces in the twenty-first century. Using information based on interviews with policymakers in Japan, the author provides new insight into Japan's foreign policy options and analyzes the nation's evolving role in international affairs. The book begins with a brief overview of major issues related to Japan's foreign policy since the mid-nineteenth century, and then focuses on the direction of Japanese foreign policy from 1945 to the present. It examines issues such as Article Nine of the Japanese Constitution, national security needs, the way Japan views the world around it, the role of nationalism in setting policy, and the influence of big industry. It also includes material on Japan's response to 9/11 and the war in Iraq. Designed for both undergraduate and graduate level courses, the text includes Discussion Questions, maps, a detailed bibliography with suggestions for further reading, and an Appendix with the Japanese Constitution for easy reference.

Considering the future of U.S.-Korea relations, Edward Olsen first provides a rich assessment of the political, economic, and strategic factors that have shaped - and flawed - U.S. policy toward the Korean peninsula since World War II. Olsen suggests that the prospect of permanent separation has become integral to U.S. policy toward both Korean states. Offering counterintuitive recommendations for reinvigorating the in due course paradigm, his analysis is firmly grounded in the current debate about the course of U.S. foreign policy in general, and in particular, its role in the East Asian context.

Since the end of World War II, Japan has not sought to remilitarize, and its postwar constitution commits to renouncing aggressive warfare. Yet many inside and outside Japan have asked whether the country should or will return to commanding armed forces amid an increasingly challenging regional and global context and as domestic politics have shifted in favor of demonstrations of national strength. Tom Phuong Le offers a novel explanation of Japan’s reluctance to remilitarize that foregrounds the relationship between demographics and security. Japan’s Aging Peace demonstrates how changing perceptions of security across generations have culminated in a culture of antimilitarism that constrains the government’s efforts to pursue a more martial foreign policy. Le challenges a simple opposition between militarism and pacifism, arguing that Japanese security discourse should be understood in terms of “multiple militarisms,” which can legitimate choices such as the mobilization of the Japan Self-Defense Forces for peacekeeping operations and humanitarian relief missions. Le highlights how factors that are not typically linked to security policy, such as aging and declining populations and gender inequality, have played crucial roles. He contends that the case of Japan challenges the presumption in international relations scholarship that states must pursue the use of force or be punished, showing how widespread normative beliefs have restrained Japanese policy makers. Drawing on interviews with policy makers, military personnel, atomic bomb survivors, museum coordinators, grassroots activists, and other stakeholders, as well as analysis of peace museums and social movements, Japan’s Aging Peace provides new insights for scholars of Asian politics, international relations, and Japanese foreign policy.

This book analyzes Ohira's ideology, philosophy, and actions as a politician and a minister, based on primary sources from Japan and the USA, and makes a significant contribution to the field of Japanese political and diplomatic history. This book is the first critical biography to chart Masayoshi Ohira’s life and work, with a focus on his political philosophy, and how he sought to create a new order in the Asia-Pacific region, framing a plan for solidarity across the Pacific Rim. If a statesman is a politician who has made diplomacy their life's work, then Ohira can be regarded as the first Japanese statesman of the modern era. While this ambition remained unfulfilled, Ohira's involvement in foreign policy was long and intensive—and highly influential—on the region. One of only two postwar prime ministers to have served as foreign minister for two terms, he attempted to balance the pursuit of a new order in the Pacific Rim with Asian diplomacy and focused on cooperation with the USA without becoming overly reliant on it. With the new availability of original documents decades after his death, this book has become possible, enabling the author to systematically follow and record Ohira's diplomatic vision. Combining history, political philosophy, political science, and international relations, this book is of appeal to history scholars and students of Japan, as well as of the foreign relations of countries such as the USA, China, and Korea.