乐鱼 体育

Past Event

Myths and Realities of Japan鈥檚 Security Policy

Is Japan moving away from pacifism toward militarism in light of changing realities facing East Asia? Can the U.S.-Japan alliance continue to meet the region鈥檚 security needs? Should Japan play a greater role for international security if it revises its constitution? Join us for a discussion on these issues as the 乐鱼 体育鈥檚 Global Fellow Narushige Michishita attempts to demystify Japan鈥檚 security policy.

Selected Quotes

 

Narushige Michishita, Global Fellow, Professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) in Tokyo; Former Japan Scholar

鈥淥verall, Japan鈥檚 security policy is quite reasonable, I think. But it is true that there is a gap between its rhetoric and the reality, and that gap makes it difficult for people to understand Japan鈥檚 security policy accurately.鈥

鈥淢yth: Japan鈥檚 self-defense force is not a military force鈥 Reality: The Japan Self-Defense Force is a full-fledged military force鈥攐ne of the most capable in the world.鈥

鈥淭he fact is that Japan is opposed to the use of its own forces in the settlement of international disputes. In most cases, Japan has supported the use of force by the United States. Pacifists don鈥檛 support any use of force; Japan supports the use of force that it considers to be legitimate 鈥 If you are not pacifist, you can鈥檛 move away from pacifism, right? So, what is Japan doing? Japan is moving away from isolationism toward internationalism.鈥

鈥淏ad news, South Korea failed to renew the important agreement. Good news, we can do so and get away with it. Why? Because as I said, there are two alliances, not only the U.S.-South Korea Alliance but also the U.S.-Japan Alliance there. They are highly institutionalized, and they are there to defend South Korea, and we have passed a new law where Japan is much more committed to the defense of South Korea. Even without GSOMIA, all the system mechanism is there so, in a way, South Korea might be playing the game, but it can play this game because it has become confident of the credibility of the deterrence that these defense mechanisms backed by two alliances generated, so good news, bad news.鈥

鈥淐ertainly, Japanese people, including the people in the government, feel very negatively about nuclear weapons, but at the same time they understand that, in order to secure their own countries they are responsible鈥攖he Japanese government officials or security specialists鈥攖hey are responsible for securing Japan. So, they have to realistically think about the necessity of nuclear weapons 鈥 Because of our experience, we can demonstrate and show to the people in the world how devastating nuclear weapon use can be, and that we can kind of educate and enlighten those people who might not know the disastrous consequences of nuclear war.鈥

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Indo-Pacific Program

The Indo-Pacific Program promotes policy debate and intellectual discussions on US interests in the Asia-Pacific as well as political, economic, security, and social issues relating to the world鈥檚 most populous and economically dynamic region.   Read more

Indo-Pacific Program