Transformation of Japan’s National Security Legislation in the 21st Century

Japan transformed after its devastating defeat in the World War II and adopted a peace constitution that forbade the country to possess military forces, relinquished the right to take part in military actions and develop a strong military. Japan had to keep low military profile until the collapse of the bipolar system of the international relations. Since then, in the wake of a new security environment in Northeast Asia Japan’s national security policy has been shifting tremendously. The study traces the dynamics of Japan’s national security identity shaped by the transformation of Japan’s national security legislation and policy throughout the post-World War II and post-bipolar periods. It is argued that, first, Japan has been implementing the most well-balanced and extremely calculated shift towards state’s normalization of its national security posture in correspondence with its economic and technological capacity, facilitated by the alliance with the US, coupled with the existing sentiments within the ruling elite. Second, the US presence in the region of Asia Pacific has been playing a vital role in preventing arms race in Northeast Asia, mostly by utilizing its political and other leverages in order to shape, regulate and control the parameters within which Japan’s aspirations for the normalization are limited to the extent where, on the one hand, it can maintain military capacity sufficient to defend its national territory, sovereignty and its allies, on the other hand, cannot provoke the escalation of unsolved controversies with China and the two states of the Korean Peninsula.