Japan

Organization, Training, and Equipment

Based on the Self-Defense Forces Law of 1954, the nation's defense establishment is organized to ensure civilian control of the armed forces. The result has been a unique military system. All SDF personnel are technically civilians: those in uniform are classified as special civil servants and are subordinate to the ordinary civil servants who run the Defense Agency. There is no military secrets law, and offenses committed by military personnel- -whether on base or off base, on duty or off duty, of military or nonmilitary nature--are all adjudicated under normal procedures by civil courts in appropriate jurisdictions (see The Criminal Justice System , this ch.).

Data as of January 1994

Japan - TABLE OF CONTENTS

• MILITARISM BEFORE 1945
  • The Bushido Code
  • The Modernization of the Military, 1868-1931
  • World War II
    • Establishment of Manchukuo
    • Sino-Japanese War
    • War in the Pacific
• THE SELF-DEFENSE FORCES
  • Early Development
  • Strategic Considerations
  • Place in National Life
  • Missions
  • Organization, Training, and Equipment
    • The Defense Agency
    • The Ground Self-Defense Force
    • The Maritime Self-Defense Force
    • The Air Self-Defense Force
  • Recruitment and Conditions of Service
  • Uniforms, Ranks, and Insignia
  • Defense Spending
  • The Defense Industry
  • Military Relations with the United States
• PUBLIC ORDER AND INTERNAL SECURITY
  • The Police System
    • National Organization
    • Local Organization
    • Riot Police
    • Special Police
    • Police-Community Relations
    • Conditions of Service
  • The Criminal Justice System
  • Crime
  • Civil Disturbances
  • Criminal Procedure
  • The Penal System