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.