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During the Korean War, US-Japan relations changed dramatically from the occupation status into one of a security partnership in Asia. When North Korea invaded South Korea, Washington perceived Japan as the ultimate target. Washington immediately intervened in the Korean peninsula to protect the South on behalf of Japanese security. Japanese security was the most important objective of American policy regarding the Korean War, a reality to which historians have not given legitimate attention. While fighting in Korea, Washington decided to conclude an early peace treaty with Japan to initiate Japanese rearmament. The issue of Japanese rearmament was a focal point in the Japanese peace negotiation. Washington pressed Japan to rearm rapidly, but Tokyo stubbornly opposed. Under pressure from Washington, the Japanese government established the National Police Reserve and had to expand its military forces during the war. When the Korean War ceased in July 1953, Japanese armed forces numbered about 180,000 men. The Korean War also brought a fundamental change to Japanese economic and diplomatic relations in Asia. With a trade embargo on China following the unexpected Chinese intervention in Korea, Washington wanted to forbid Sino-Japanese trade completely. In addition, Washington pressed Tokyo to recognize the Nationalist regime in Taiwan as the representative government of the whole Chinese people. Japan unsuccessfully resisted both policies. Japan wanted to maintain Sino-Japanese trade and recognize the Chinese Communists. The Korean War brought an economic boom to Japan. As a logistical and service supporter for United States war efforts in Korea, Japan received a substantial amount of military procurement orders from Washington, which supplied dollars, technology, and markets for Japan. The Korean War was an economic opportunity for Japan while it was a military opportunity for the United States. The Korean War was the beginning of a new era of American-Japanese military and economic interdependence. This study is based on both American and Japanese sources--primary and secondary.

Thesis MA (Political Science. International Studies))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / The end of the Cold War, marked by the shift from a bipolar to multipolar security order, prompted a significant change in Japan’s relations with Africa. New political and economic challenges, which are accelerated by the process of globalisation, have forced Japan to adjust its foreign policies accordingly- especially in the African context. The primary goal of this study is to analyse how the concept of human security has influenced Japan’s foreign policy towards Africa since 1998. This research question focuses on Official Development Assistance (ODA) and peacekeeping through the United Nations Peacekeeping Operations in Africa. The methodological nature of this study is qualitative. Secondary sources are mainly used. This study makes use of the two contending theoretical perspectives in the security paradigm, namely Neo- Realism and the Human Security Approach. An important part of the analysis is Japan’s middlepowership and why it has chosen human security as its niche diplomacy in the new security order. The findings of this study suggest that the reasons for this are, firstly that Japan has had to justify its continuing ODA cuts to Africa over the last decade, as well as its pacifist stance on peacekeeping, which sees it refraining from directly intervening in conflict situations. Other key findings of this study are that Japan’s motives for providing ODA to Africa prior to 1989 were mainly economic in nature and that diplomatic relations were limited. What also emerged from this study is that Japan’s most prominent foreign policy goals include a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, establishing itself as a prominent global player both in political and economic realms, and securing favourable relations with states whose resources are vital to its expanding economy. Japan’s more recent relations with Africa can also be characterised by its multilateral approach, particularly through organisations such as the United Nations and the African Union. Important initiatives such as the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) have also played an important role in promoting African development. However, its future success will depend on coordinating TICAD and The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) policies, with human security as a common goal. The implications of the findings of this study are that Japan will have to formulate a more coherent foreign policy on security, especially towards Africa. Secondly, since Japan is no longer the ODA giant that it used to be, it will have to find new ways of defining its relationship with Africa, particularly in terms of TICAD and the G8. Future research could expand the analysis to an investigation of Japan’s ODA disbursements to all Africa countries. Additional attention should also be given to Japan’s foreign policy in terms of peacebuilding, and how the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) is formulating these policies. Lastly, more research can be conducted on human security in general, and other aspects of it that are promoted through Japan’s foreign policy.

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Basil Hall Chamberlain and Lafcadio Hearn were two of the best known western interpreters of Meiji Japan. In their correspondence as well as published writings, they commented on the conclusion of the Aoki-Kimberley treaty of 1894 and the subsequent end of the "unequal treaties" and the treaty port system in Japan. Chamberlain, a resident in Tokyo for over two decades, was most concerned with the fate of foreigners in Japan who would be adversely affected by the end of extraterritoriality and the favourable commercial privileges which they had enjoyed since 1858. He was critical of the jingoism of the nationalistic reaction which developed during the course of treaty negotiations. Hearn, in contrast, praised this national or "racial" spirit and credited it with Japan's success at the negotiation table. Partial to ideas of racial difference and conflict, Hearn viewed the new treaty as evidence of the resurgence of an oriental race against the forces of western imperialism.

Research on Japanese current foreign policy suffers from neglect of the influence of domestic factors on Japan's decisions and behaviour in world politics. The question of the nature of Japanese foreign policy needs to go beyond the exogenous cause of state behaviour in international affairs. The object of inquiry of this thesis is the influence of social factors on the orientation of Japan's foreign policy. The central concern is: "how" and "why" Japan behaves as it does in world affairs. This examination addresses the question of the interaction of endogenous and exogenous factors on the foreign economic policy of Japan, and postulates that Japanese national identity, national interests, and role conceptions, are the essence of Japan's defensive attitudes in world affairs on the one hand, and that Japanese behavioural patterns in international relations are in conformity with the ends of Japan's foreign policy: economic security and growth under the Japan-US alliance. Japanese response to US pressure and trade adjustment to the changing framework of the world economy from the 1980s up to the present give a relevant outlook to the defensive character of Japan's foreign policy. For Japanese policy-makers, the stability of Japan's economic performance in the world economy, its pacifist attitude in world affairs, its trade relations with the United States, and its protectorate status as a result of the Japan-US Security Treaty, are beyond question.

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This thesis examines the implications that the Nixon “shocks” may have on Japan’s foreign policy. The data used consisted of books, articles, periodicals, government publications and newspapers. Examined were such important factors as: the attitudes of the political parties in Japan on foreign policy questions, the rapid rise of the Japanese economy and the implications this has had on Japan's relations with other countries, and the question of Japan's possible remilitarization, both in conventional and nuclear terms. In addition, Japan's relations with the other three Great Powers in Asia, (China, the Soviet Union and the United States), are also studied. From about 1945 until the close of the 1960's, Japan's foreign policy had been based on a close relationship with the United States. From about the end of 1970 to the end of 1971, Japan was stung by a series of “shocks” in the course of American foreign policy. These included tile sudden and last minute announcement of Nixon's visit to China, severe economic measures, the imposition of' textile quotas, and the failure of Japan's co-sponsoring of the United Nations motion allowing Taiwan to keep its membership. The period of 1969 to 1972 is critical to the future alignment of Japan’s foreign policy. One conclusion from this re-alignment is that it is now clear that Japan will no longer serve as the American junior partner in Asia. Japan now shows a new independent attitude in its relations with other countries, quite apart from American desire. Also in 1972 following the Nixon “shocks,” both China and the Soviet Union competed against the other to draw Japan away from its American alliance. It is the shift in Japan's foreign policy that this thesis is concerned with.

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