A Pacifist Constitution for An Armed Empire-Past and Present of Japanese Defence and Security Policies

Japan was an occupied country from 1945 to 1952. It regained full independence after the San Francisco Peace Treaty went into force in 1952. Okinawa, the country’s southern island in the Pacific (and until today hosting 75% of all US forces stationed in Japan) was returned to Japan only in 1972 and until today the US never really ‘left’ Japan completely. Roughly 50.000 US military troops are still stationed on Japanese territory providing Japan with military security in the framework of the ‘US-Japan Security Treaty’ adopted in 1952 and revised in 1960. The story of the US occupation in Japan is one centred on the ‘imposition’ of a ‘pacifist’ constitution onto the country: while ‘degrading’ the Japanese Emperor Hirohito from ‘head’ to ‘symbol’ of the country, Japan post-war constitution’s war-renouncing Article 9 denies Japan the right to maintain armed forces, the reason why Japan’s armed forces (established in 1954) equipped with an annual budget of $47 billion have been named ‘Self-Defence Forces’ Although Article 9 does strictly speaking not allow Japan to maintain armed forces, Japan does since 1954 have military forces, which today are equipped with an annual budget of $47 billion-only the US, China and Russia spend more on defence. In order to avoid accusations of violating Japan’s war-renouncing Article 9, Japan’s military forces are called ‘Self-Defence Forces’ as opposed to ‘armed forces’, which have led Japanese policymakers and scholars to argue (wrongly) that Japan has no military forces. While the US imposed democratic political structures and a democratic constitution onto Japan, Washington decided long before the end of World War II to keep the Japanese Emperor Hirohito and retain the Emperor system Retaining the Emperor system after Japan’s defeat, it was maintained amongst US policymakers already in the early 1940s, would facilitate and support US post-war occupation policies securing Japan as loyal and committed ally in what would soon after the end of World War II become the Cold War in Europe and Asia. In fact, US Cold War ‘realpolitik’ made sure that there was little room left for the initial idealism in US post-war planning for Japan when it was realized that Tokyo was to become an ally against what was feared to be expansive Soviet Union-led communism in Asia