NATIONAL JOURNAL, July 3, 1993, p.1709.
The agonizing over wielding troops as noncombatant- peacekeepers, however,
suggests that any dramatic reappraisal of Japanese defense policy is a long way
off. "For the past 47 years, we've always followed the U.S. on these issues,"
Tosei Izumi, a businessman in Kumamoto, remarked during a discussion of Japan's
lurching search for a new foothold on the post-Cold War terrain. "Japan is like
an elementary school child in this international affairs business. We don't
know where to step in. That's why it takes so much time."
JAPAN'S GOVERNMENT STRUCTURES PREVENT MILITARIZATION
Peter Katzenstein and Nobuo Okawara, Professor in International Studies at
Cornell and Professor in Politics at Kyushu, INTERNATIONAL SECURITY, Spring
1993, p.86.
The structure of the Japanese state has made it virtually impossible short of a
domestic political revolution, for an autonomous and powerful military
establishment to emerge in Japan. Inside the government, the military is fenced
in by a number of institutional procedures that severely circumscribe the
access of military professionals to the centers of political power. The
civilians' control over the military is firmly entrenched in Japan. The
structure of state-society relations in Japan isolates the military from a
public which musters at best no more than passive tolerance for the armed
forces.
CULTURE OF ANTI-MILITARISM PREVENTS MILITARIZATION
Thomas Berger, Fellow at Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies,
INTERNATIONAL SECURITY, Spring 1993, p.147.
Although Japan today is perfectly capable of acquiring greater independent
military capabilities, and the changing international security environment
provides it with some opportunities and incentives to do so, I have argued that
it is highly unlikely that the Japanese would set out to become a military
superpower. Even if Japanese policy makers were to conclude that dramatic
change was necessary, given the existing culture of anti-militarism they would
encounter strong opposition from the general populace as well as from large
sections of the elite. Japan's approach to defense will certainly continue to
evolve as a result of changes in the international system. Yet change is likely
to be incremental, and the direction in which it evolves will be influenced by
the preferences that the Japanese people and their leaders have formed over the
past forty-five years.
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