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Japan Early Development
Deprived of any military capability after 1945, the
nation had
only occupation forces and a few domestic police on which
to rely
for security. Rising Cold War tensions in Europe and Asia,
coupled
with leftist-inspired strikes and demonstrations in Japan,
prompted
some conservative leaders to question the unilateral
renunciation
of all military capability. These sentiments were
intensified in
1950 when most occupation troops were transferred to the
Korean War
(1950-53) theater, leaving Japan virtually helpless to
counter
internal disruption and subversion, and very much aware of
the need
to enter into a mutual defense relationship with the
United States
to guarantee the nation's external security. Encouraged by
the
occupation authorities, the Japanese government in July
1950
authorized the establishment of the National Police
Reserve,
consisting of 75,000 men equipped with light infantry
weapons.
Under the terms of the Mutual Security Assistance Pact,
ratified in 1952 along with the peace treaty Japan had
signed with
the United States and other countries, United States
forces
stationed in Japan were to deal with external aggression
against
Japan while Japanese forces, both ground and maritime,
would deal
with internal threats and natural disasters. Accordingly,
in mid1952 the National Police Reserve was expanded to 110,000
men and
named the National Safety Force. The Coastal Safety Force,
which
had been organized in 1950 as a waterborne counterpart to
the
National Police Reserve, was transferred with it to the
National
Safety Agency to constitute an embryonic navy
(see Military Relations with the United States
, this ch.).
As Japan perceived a growing external threat without
adequate
forces to counter it, the National Safety Force underwent
further
development that entailed difficult political problems.
The war
renunciation clause of the constitution was the basis for
strong
political objections to any sort of force other than
conventional
police. In 1954, however, separate land, sea, and air
forces for
purely defensive purposes were created, subject to the
Office of
the Prime Minister
(see The Cabinet and Ministries
, ch.
6).
To avoid the appearance of a revival of militarism,
Japan's
leaders emphasized constitutional guarantees of civilian
control of
the government and armed forces and used nonmilitary terms
for the
organization and functions of the forces. The overall
organization
was called the Defense Agency rather than the Ministry of
Defense.
The armed forces were designated the Ground Self-Defense
Force
(GSDF), the Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF), and the
Air SelfDefense Force (ASDF), instead of the army, navy, and air
force.
Although possession of nuclear weapons is not forbidden
in the
constitution, Japan, as the only nation to experience the
devastation of atomic attack, early expressed its
abhorrence of
nuclear arms and determined never to acquire them. The
Basic Atomic
Energy Law of 1956 limits research, development, and
utilization of
nuclear power to peaceful uses, and beginning in 1956,
national
policy has embodied "three non-nuclear
principles"--forbidding the
nation to possess or manufacture nuclear weapons or to
allow them
to be introduced into the nation. In 1976 Japan ratified
the Treaty
on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (adopted by
the United
Nations Security Council in 1968) and reiterated its
intention
never to "develop, use, or allow the transportation of
nuclear
weapons through its territory."
Data as of January 1994
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