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Japan Military Relations with the United States
The 1952 Mutual Security Assistance Pact provided the
initial
basis for the nation's security relations with the United
States
(see World War II and the Occupation, 1941-52
, ch. 1;
Relations with the United States
, ch. 7). The pact was replaced in
1960 by
the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security, which
declares that
both nations will maintain and develop their capacities to
resist
armed attack in common and that each recognizes that an
armed
attack on either one in territories administered by Japan
will be
considered dangerous to the safety of the other. The
Agreed Minutes
to the treaty specified that the Japanese government must
be
consulted prior to major changes in United States force
deployment
in Japan or to the use of Japanese bases for combat
operations
other than in defense of Japan itself. However, Japan was
relieved
by its constitutional prohibition of participating in
external
military operations from any obligation to defend the
United States
if it were attacked outside of Japanese territories. In
1990 the
Japanese government expressed its intention to continue to
rely on
the treaty's arrangements to guarantee national security.
The Agreed Minutes under Article 6 of the 1960 treaty
contain
a status-of-forces agreement on the stationing of United
States
forces in Japan, with specifics on the provision of
facilities and
areas for their use and on the administration of Japanese
citizens
employed in the facilities. Also covered are the limits of
the two
countries' jurisdictions over crimes committed in Japan by
United
States military personnel.
The Mutual Security Assistance Pact of 1952 initially
involved
a military aid program that provided for Japan's
acquisition of
funds, matériel, and services for the nation's essential
defense.
Although Japan no longer received any aid from the United
States by
the 1960s, the agreement continued to serve as the basis
for
purchase and licensing agreements ensuring
interoperability of the
two nations' weapons and for the release of classified
data to
Japan, including both international intelligence reports
and
classified technical information.
A major issue for military relations between the two
nations
was resolved in 1972 when the Ryukyu Islands, including
Okinawa,
reverted to Japanese control and the provisions of the
1960
security treaty were extended to cover them. The United
States
retained the right to station forces on these islands. In
1990
about 30,000 United States troops still occupied 20
percent of
Okinawa's land, a source of friction with the local
population.
Military relations improved after the mid-1970s. In 1960
the
Security Consultative Committee, with representatives from
both
countries, was set up under the 1960 security treaty to
discuss and
coordinate security matters concerning both nations. In
1976 a
subcommittee of that body prepared the Guidelines for
Japan-United
States Defense Cooperation that were approved by the full
committee
in 1978 and later approved by the National Defense Council
and
cabinet. The guidelines authorized unprecedented
activities in
joint defense planning, response to an armed attack on
Japan, and
cooperation on situations in Asia and the Pacific region
that could
affect Japan's security.
Under the framework of the guidelines, Japan's Joint
Staff
Council and the commander of United States Forces, Japan,
drew up
a long-range program for joint exercises to encompass all
three
services of both nations. Every year during the 1980s, the
GSDF
conducted command post and field-training exercises
involving units
from each of the regional armies in combined training with
United
States forces. Although the MSDF had participated in
exercises with
the United States Navy since 1955, in 1980 Japan, in an
unprecedented move, permitted a task force of ships and
aircraft to
train in the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) comprehensive
naval
exercise with naval forces from the United States,
Australia,
Canada, and New Zealand. Japan also participated in RIMPAC
'88 with
eight destroyers and frigates, one submarine, eight P-3C
antisubmarine aircraft, and one supply ship. The ASDF also
conducted numerous air defense, fighter, rescue, and
command post
training exercises with United States Air Force units.
In 1992 more than 50,000 members of the United States
Armed
Forces were stationed in Japan, including 21,300 marines,
10,300
air force personnel, 5,500 navy personnel, and 2,200 army
personnel, who were deployed at several locations on
Honshu,
Kyushu, and Okinawa. These numbers represented a
substantial
decrease from the 1990 level.
Data as of January 1994
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