The U S Japan Alliance Redefined

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 is starting to emerge as a major player in the international security affairs of the post-Cold War era. With the approach of the half-century mark since the conclusion of the Second World War, Japan's postwar generation of leaders appears more confident than their predecessors about their country's potential contribution to global peace and stability. Evidence that Japan may be finding its footing as a great market democracy is extant in the recent report of a distinguished advisory commission reviewing Japan's National Defense Program Outline: "Japan should extricate itself from its security policy of the past that was, if anything, passive, and henceforth play an active role in shaping a new order."2.

Examines how the current alliance between the US and Japan might be redefined and even restructured to respond more effectively to the changing security environment of the region. Analyzes the motivations and results of both countries' security policies in the context of the regions' security environment, and addresses ways to improve bilateral defense cooperation. Makes policy recommendations for strengthening the relationship, increasing Japan's contribution to Asia-Pacific security, and integrating China into the regional community. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Despite the enduring importance of the U.S.-Japan security alliance, the broader relationship between the two countries is today beset by sobering new difficulties. In this comprehensive comparative analysis of the transpacific alliance and its political, economic, and social foundations, Kent E. Calder, a leading Japan specialist, asserts that bilateral relations between the two countries are dangerously eroding as both seek broader options in a globally oriented world. Calder documents the quiet erosion of America's multidimensional ties with Japan as China rises, generations change, and new forces arise in both American and Japanese politics. He then assesses consequences for a twenty-first-century military alliance with formidable coordination requirements, explores alternative foreign paradigms for dealing with the United States, adopted by Britain, Germany, and China, and offers prescriptions for restoring U.S.-Japan relations to vitality once again.

The year 2004 marked the 150th anniversary of the signing of the first treaty of peace and amity (Treaty of Kanagawa) between the United States and Japan. The author offers a significant Japanese view of the alliance, explores the history, but also poses the question what the relationship will be for the next fifty years.