Japanese defense policy, 1945-1970
Abstract
Since the end of the Occupation, the defence policy
of the Japanese Government has been based on a bilateral security treaty
with the United States. Japan has also built up substantial ground,
sea and air forces. Yet the Japanese have taken no active part in
regional defence organizations. In spite of her intimate connections
with the United States, Japan has not been directly involved in hostilities
with any of America's antagonists. In the twenty-five years since the
end of the Pacific War, not a single Japanese soldier has served outside
Japan.
The 1960s saw Japan's final emergence as a great economic
power. By the end of the decade she ranked third after the United States
and the Soviet Union in the global hierarchy of gross national products.
Her international involvement reached new levels of complexity. Decisions
taken in Tokyo had world wide repercussions. In innumerable ways, and
through a variety of channels, Japan's ability to sway the affairs of
the world had probably never been greater. Yet her direct military
influence in Asia and the Pacific seemed as slight as it had been during
the Heian era.