Japan, the US Alliance and Asia

Abstract

JAPAN’S security policy has undergone remarkable change since 9/11, involving the breaking of precedents, the consolidation of a normative commitment to proactive pacifism, and a questioning of Japan’s postwar security policy framework. These transformations have themselves occurred in a dynamic and unstable context. In its domestic politics, Japan experienced a succession of short-term conservative prime ministers following the departure of Junichiro Koizumi in 2006. The historic election of 2009 then saw the defeat of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). Show more