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Japan Rearmed: The Politics of Military Power - Paperback | Diverse Reads

Japan Rearmed: The Politics of Military Power

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“Washington’s relationship with Tokyo is generally considered the most important of the United States’ 70-odd alliances. In this intimately knowledgeable book, Smith shows how that alliance looks to the Japanese: increasingly unreliable.”—Andrew J. Nathan, Foreign Affairs

“Masterfully traces the interplay of Japan’s military heritage, politics, national sentiment, threats, and alliance with the United States in the formation and development of the Self-Defense Force. Even experts will find new information and insights.”—Admiral Dennis Blair, US Navy (Ret.), former Commander-in-Chief, US Pacific Command

“A must-read for US policymakers responsible for Asia.” —J. Thomas Schieffer, former US Ambassador to Japan

“A highly readable and richly detailed account of Japan’s rearmament and the politics surrounding it.”—Journal of American–East Asian Relations

Japan has one of Asia’s most technologically advanced militaries, yet it has struggled to use its hard power as an instrument of national policy. The horrors of World War II continue to haunt policymakers in Tokyo, but a fundamental shift in East Asian geopolitics has forced Japan to rethink its commitment to pacifism. Its military, once feared as a security liability, now appears to be an indispensable asset.

In Japan Rearmed, Sheila Smith argues that Japan is not only responding to threats from North Korean missiles and Chinese maritime activities, it is fundamentally reevaluating its dependence on the United States as its leaders confront the very real possibility that they may soon need to prepare for war.

ISBN-13: 9780674293953

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Publication Date: 11-21-2023

Pages: 352

Product Dimensions: 5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x (d)

Sheila A. Smith is Senior Fellow for Japan Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and the author of Intimate Rivals: Japanese Domestic Politics and a Rising China. She is chair of the US advisors to the US–Japan Conference on Cultural and Educational Exchange, a binational advisory panel of government officials and private-sector members. She also serves on the advisory committee for the US–Japan Network for the Future program of the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation. Smith teaches at Georgetown University and is a frequent media commentator in the United States and Asia.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations ix

Introduction 1

1 Japan in the Cold War 21

2 The Self-Defense Force Abroad 55

3 Mobilizing the Military 90

4 The Constitution Revisited 128

5 Relying on Borrowed Power 173

Conclusion 220

Notes 243

Further Reading 313

Acknowledgments 323

Index 327