Militarisation and Demilitarisation in Contemporary Japan (Hardcover)

Japanese defence and security policies have often been at odds with international norms. When one considers the war renouncing constitution, the popular response to the 1990-1 Gulf crisis, or the limitations on Japanese self-defence-forces when taking part in United Nations peace keeping operations in the early 1990s, Japan appears to be an anomoly in the international community. This study seeks to explain the nature of Japanese defence and security policies by taking account of how the people have responded to militarization and demilitarization processes in the postwar period, especially in the 1980s and early 1990s. The author shows the Japan is moving towards being a "normal" military state and explains how, even 50 years after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the promulgation of an anti-militaristic constitution a few years later, the Japanese people are still influenced in their responses to defence and security policies by these twin experiences. This study challenges many of the preconceived notions on Japanese defense and security policies and the policy making process in Japan.