The postwar Constitution of Japan is one of the foremost legacies of american occupation. The aim of this study is to describe the circumstances of its creation, to evaluate the roles and motivations of the parties and individuals concerned, and to answer the following question: To what extent was the constitution imposed on Japan and to what extent was its contents a compromise? The study tries to emphasize the role of interaction between the GHQ and the japanese government prior to the presentation of the draft to the Imperial Diet. The focus is put on the analysis of the events of March 4th and 5th, during which the american and the japanese visions of postwar Japan clashed most dramatically.

This thesis focuses on the analysis of the proces of the creation and gradual transformation of japanese self-defense forces until the treshold of 21th century. Using few selected international relations theories and historical background, it explains the development of these forces, their growth and the issue concerning the existence, legitimity, geopolitical support and constitutionality. In the final part I am describing the public opinion influenced by the gradual changes of these forces. The result is a compact perspective, 60 years of existence of Japanese Self-Defence Forces, focused on their gradal change in time.

This piece tries to determine whether or not Japan’s movement towards rearmament is indicative of a renewed militaristic sentiment or driven by the necessity of improving its defense in view of mounting threats from its age-old enemy, China. The goal of this work is to create a framework using both international events and domestic responses in which to ascertain whether or not the reformation of Article 9 is, in of itself, a reemergence of pre-war bushido/nationalist sentiment or a response to both outside and inside influences necessitating the need for a “normalized” state. The work focuses on three distinct time periods – early 2000s, latter 2000s, and the 2010s – in which to highlight the initial development, progression, and foreseeable resolution to the Article 9 debate. These stages emphasize several elements persistent in Japan’s quest for a more normalized state, including: the hostile external environment created by the rise of foreign assertiveness, and internal domestic pressures (which to some extent are driven by external pressures) along with its own desire to seek a more normalized position in the international community as well as to gain an enhanced sense of national pride. Additionally a brief synopsis of both the foreign and domestic entities which have contributed to the Japanese reformation movement has been included for better foundational understanding of the question at hand. In general, results suggested that, though there is some merit towards a reemergence of pre-WWII nationalistic sentiment (especially in the case of the Net Uyoku), the reformation of Article 9 is primarily driven in response to growing tensions – both within East Asia as well as world-wide – as well as a need to assert some semblance of nationalistic identity (an area seriously lacking in Japanese society). Results further implicate that, though the process of reforming Article 9 and thereby revising Japan’s anti-war policy may not be immediate, movement within the Japanese state towards constitutional reformation is indeed on the rise – rearmament being the primary target of said reforms.

This dissertation focuses on Japanese policy as a whole, internal and external policy priorities and objectives, in order to illustrate the role, and analyze the level of effectiveness of conducted foreign policy tools. This paper explores some of the reasons and factors of conducted internal and external policy tools. Therefore, it shows how effective and in timely manner reaction of Japanese to state's internal policy, has influenced and played a key role during the country recovery and restoration. Moreover, proper policy objectives not only have restored the country but also made Japan one of the most advanced world centers. Japan is in a number of the advanced countries of the world, participating in modern world political process which dynamics has the general laws and the tendencies of development connected with transformation of the Pacific Rim into the center of global activity of the leading countries of the world. Changes in global scale, aftermath of the World War II affect the significant characteristic of foreign policy, official and economic diplomacy of Japan towards peace and security advocating country.

North Korea twice conducted ballistic missile tests close to Japan in 1998 and 2006. While Japan responded with non-coercive condemnations to demonstrate its disapproval in 1998, it imposed unilateral economic sanctions in 2006, marking the first instance in post-World War II of applying a substantial coercion to punish a neighbouring state. The research asks why Japanese policy toward the North shifted for a seemingly identical type of provocation. The dissertation seeks contextual explanations by using inductive process-tracing, a type of ‘middle approach’ between historical narratives and parsimonious theories. It is applied to highlight the underlying mechanism through which public discursive changes concerning national security and North Korea during this eight-year period influenced the subsequent policy shift in 2006. The dissertation concludes that the unilateral sanctions were not necessarily a calculated strategic response to punish the missile launch (or North Korean nuclear programs) per se, but were a direct consequence of a deeper shift in societal discourse taking place beforehand. During the eight-year period, there had been other visible provocations and shocks originating from the North, especially the sensational revelation in 2002 of past North Korean abductions of Japanese citizens. These highly-publicized incidents facilitated the Japanese public to be increasingly conscious about Japan’s security weaknesses and re-evaluate its historical relations with its neighbour, leading to a hardened domestic environment in which the new idea of pressuring the North became a feasible option even before 2006. These North Korean provocations and the resulting societal security discourse, along with concurrent structural changes in the Japanese government and mass media which made them both highly susceptible to discursive currents among citizens, mutually interacted to produce the policy result when the opportunity arose. The research, however, also challenges the popular view that the sanctions are the first example of the wholesale transformation of Japan’s post-war ‘pacifist’ security principles. It argues that the confined means (economic) by which the sanctions were imposed reflects the highly nuanced discourse, which endorses Japan’s legitimate right to specifically punish the North for the harms done, but that the societal momentum is not equally supportive of the more controversial areas concerning military usage and the current constitution.

North Korea twice conducted ballistic missile tests close to Japan in 1998 and 2006. While Japan responded with non-coercive condemnations to demonstrate its disapproval in 1998, it imposed unilateral economic sanctions in 2006, marking the first instance in post-World War II of applying a substantial coercion to punish a neighbouring state. The research asks why Japanese policy toward the North shifted for a seemingly identical type of provocation. The dissertation seeks contextual explanations by using inductive process-tracing, a type of ‘middle approach’ between historical narratives and parsimonious theories. It is applied to highlight the underlying mechanism through which public discursive changes concerning national security and North Korea during this eight-year period influenced the subsequent policy shift in 2006. The dissertation concludes that the unilateral sanctions were not necessarily a calculated strategic response to punish the missile launch (or North Korean nuclear programs) per se, but were a direct consequence of a deeper shift in societal discourse taking place beforehand. During the eight-year period, there had been other visible provocations and shocks originating from the North, especially the sensational revelation in 2002 of past North Korean abductions of Japanese citizens. These highly-publicized incidents facilitated the Japanese public to be increasingly conscious about Japan’s security weaknesses and re-evaluate its historical relations with its neighbour, leading to a hardened domestic environment in which the new idea of pressuring the North became a feasible option even before 2006. These North Korean provocations and the resulting societal security discourse, along with concurrent structural changes in the Japanese government and mass media which made them both highly susceptible to discursive currents among citizens, mutually interacted to produce the policy result when the opportunity arose. The research, however, also challenges the popular view that the sanctions are the first example of the wholesale transformation of Japan’s post-war ‘pacifist’ security principles. It argues that the confined means (economic) by which the sanctions were imposed reflects the highly nuanced discourse, which endorses Japan’s legitimate right to specifically punish the North for the harms done, but that the societal momentum is not equally supportive of the more controversial areas concerning military usage and the current constitution.