Japan in the World Since 1945

Background Information.

Japan’s “special relationship” with the United States since the end of World War II has profoundly shaped Japan’s international posture as well as American policy in East Asia.  Even after the signing of the San Francisco Peace Treaty and the end of the occupation, the 1951 Bilateral Security Treaty ensured that American military forces would remain stationed in Japan, providing insurance against the Communist threat from without as well as potential radical activism from within.  Not surprisingly, many Japanese—especially those on the political left—decried this situation as “subordinate independence,” although Japan’s conservative political establishment embraced the asymmetric relationship with Washington.  Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru, one of the architects of the Liberal Democratic Party’s postwar dynasty, believed that Japanese political subordination to American military and political leadership served Japan well, allowing the nation to save on defense costs, prioritize economic growth, and benefit from rising international trade.  Thus, in the decades following the occupation, the Japanese government was generally content to keep a low military and political profile globally, deferring to the United States in most matters of policy and determinedly pursuing its economic advantage internationally.

Although Article 9 of the postwar constitution expressly stated that “land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained,” the process of remilitarization had begun even before the end of the occupation.  Japan developed “Self-Defense Forces,” a substantial military establishment by international standards that finessed the provisions of Article 9 by professing a purely defensive orientation for the Japanese units.  Constitutional restrictions and a general societal tendency toward pacifism did keep Japanese forces off of overseas battlefields, and even though Japan did host American operations during the Korean and Vietnam Wars, U.S. pressure for accelerated Japanese rearmament has consistently been strong.  Japan faced significant international criticism for its “checkbook diplomacy” during the First Gulf War, providing cash rather than troops to the allied effort, and subsequently began to participate in United Nations peacekeeping operations and contributed units for the occupation of Iraq following the Second Gulf War.

In East Asia, Japan’s relations with some of its closest and most strategically and economically significant neighbors, notably China, South Korea, and Russia, have long been strained.  The complex politics of war responsibility and memory have often caused political tensions with China and South Korea, where memories of Japanese imperialism and colonial domination remain fresh.  Although economic integration and cultural interchange have drawn Japan, China, and South Korea closer together in recent decades, ongoing controversies over the depth of Japanese contrition for the war and war crimes, official visits to Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, and the content of Japanese history textbooks continue to inflame passions (and spark diplomatic incidents) throughout the region.  Meanwhile, Japan and Russia have yet to sign an official peace treaty bringing World War II to a close and the nations continue to contest ownership of a small group of islands off the coast of Hokkaido.  At the start of the twenty-first century, Japan thus faces ongoing challenges in managing its longstanding alliance with the United States, in defining its military role in an unstable world, and in moving its regional bilateral relationships beyond the contentious legacies of World War II.

Learning Goals.

Standards.

Common Core Standards
College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Reading

• Standard 1.  Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.
• Standard 9.  Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take. 
• Standard 10.  Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently.

• Standard 7.  Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects based on focused questions, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.
• Standard 9.  Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Speaking and Listening

• Standard 4.  Present information, findings, and supporting evidence such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. 

McRel Standard 5. Uses the general skills and strategies of the reading process.

McRel Standard 7. Uses reading skills and strategies to understand and interpret a variety of informational texts.

World History

Standard 43.  Understands how post-World War II reconstruction occurred, new international power relations took shape, and colonial empires broke up.

Standard 44.  Understands the search for community, stability, and peace in an interdependent world.

Key Concept.

Japan's close and complex relationship with the United States after the Occupation shaped its military policy and had many economic and social reprecussions.

Essential Question.

Primary Source.

Article 9 of the 1947 Constitution.

第九条　日本国民は、正義と秩序を基調とする国際平和を誠実に希求し、国権の発動たる戦争と、武力による威嚇又は武力の行使は、国際紛争を解決する手段としては、永久にこれを放棄する。
二　前項の目的を達するため、陸海空軍その他の戦力は、これを保持しない。国の交戦権は、これを認めない。

The official English translation of the article reads:

“ ARTICLE 9. Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.

(2) In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized." 
 

Selections from the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty and “Bilateral Security Treaty Between the United States of America and Japan” (in Wm. Theodore deBary, Carol Gluck, and Arthur E. Tiedemann, eds., Sources of Japanese Tradition, Volume II 1600-2000, 2nd ed. (New York: Columbia University Press, 2005), pp.1068-72). 

The full text of the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty can be found at wikisource.  Of particular use are: "Chapter 1: Peace"; Chapter 2: Territory," Articles 2 and 3; "Chapter 3: Security," Articles 5 and 6; "Chapter 4: Political and Economic Clauses" Articles 10 and 11.

The full text of the “Bilateral Security Treaty Between the United States of America and Japan” can be found at The Avalon Project at Yale University.

Thought Questions.

Activities

Focus Activity Ideas.

Individually or in pairs, have students repond to the following questions: Is it necessary for every nation to have a military?  What are the pros and cons of having no military vs. a small/medium/large military?

Main Lesson Activity Ideas.

• Are the San Francisco Peace Treaty and the 1951 Security Treaty consistent with the spirit and the letter of Article 9? Why or why not? 
• How would you characterize the relationship between the United States and Japan under the Security Treaty? 
• How was this treaty in the interests of the United States? Of Japan? 
• What was the explicit function of the U.S. troops stationed in Japan to be? Note that maintaining domestic order, and not just defending Japan from the presumed Communist threat, was part of the American forces’ charge. 
• Given the provisions of the Security Treaty, is it any surprise that many observers have argued that Japan had only “subordinate independence” after the end of the Occupation? 
• You might ask your students to evaluate the positives and negatives for Japan of having a close, even dependent relationship with the United States during the Cold War. Economic factors (access to markets, technology transfer, etc.) should be considered in addition to the political and military angles.

• What trends are apparent in Japan’s pattern of engagement in major world conflicts? 
• What was the impact of these conflicts on Japan, economically, socially, politically, and culturally? 
• Be sure to consider the importance of Japan as a forward base for American operations in the Korean, Vietnam, and Cold Wars.

Summative Activity Ideas.

Have students answer the following question and give three reasons: Has Article 9 been beneficial to Japan?

Possible summative project or test question: Orally or in essay form, have students redesign and justify Japan's policy after the Occupation towards the United States, China and South Korea.  Would they agree to the San Francisco Peace Treaty and the Security Treaty?  Would they modify Japan's relation with the United States in any way?  How would they relate to South Korea and China?  What would the reprecussions of these decisions be?  

Resources.