Risk State: Japan's Foreign Policy in an Age of Uncertainty by Sebastian Maslow & Ra Mason & Paul O'Shea

Author:Sebastian Maslow & Ra Mason & Paul O'Shea [Maslow, Sebastian & Mason, Ra & O'Shea, Paul]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: International Relations, Peace, Political Science, General
ISBN: 9781317062769
Google: -06rCwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 29443288
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2016-03-03T00:00:00+00:00

Figure 5.1 Public perception of terrorism-related risks in Japan

Source: Yomiuri Shimbun 2006. Nihon e no kyōi ‘Kitachōsen’ saita 65%. Nichibei anpo yakutatsu 75%. 5 July 2006, p. 2.

Figure 5.2 General security risk perceptions in Japan

Source: MOFA 2004a. Anzen hoshō ni kansuru yoronchōsa. Available at: http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/gaiko/ah_chosa/ah_chosa.html [accessed August 29 2013].

Other calls for institutional changes concern especially the military capabilities of the JSDF and the efficiency of their command structures. As the 2010 report emphasizes: ‘A security and defense strategy in the new era requires infrastructure to buttress it’ (The Council on Security and Defense Capabilities in the New Era 2010: 2). Furthermore, the reference to the new types of risk had repeatedly been used as an argument for elevation of the JDA to ministerial status (JDA 2006: 136), which was finally carried out in 2007. What is also noticeable is the fact that in the text of the NDPOs of 2005 and 2011, increasingly specific formulations and phrases used in prior publications by the JDA/MOD were included. This is another indicator of the increasingly important role of the MOD in the institutional setting of Japan’s security sector.

Another significant argumentative pattern that is steadily repeated in the evolving security narratives is the emphasis on the need for international security cooperation, in particular with the US. The notion of Japan being a member of the international community and a reliable security partner is frequently evoked. Stressing that Japan does not shy away in the face of danger and is willing to contribute is clearly deemed a necessary measure to prevent similar criticism to that which Japan faced in the early 1990s. It is thus a result from the ‘Gulf shock’ in 1991, when Japan as the world’s second biggest economic power was heavily criticized for making only a financial rather than a military contribution. Furthermore, against the backdrop of the framing of cross-border threats like terrorism and proliferation of WMD, international security cooperation becomes an assumed prerequisite for their successful containment. Additionally and importantly for the Japanese context, international cooperation has developed into a useful means of deflecting criticism of traditionally taboo military measures, thus functioning effectively as a way to comply with still prevalent anti-militarist norms. Therein, by stressing expectations from the international community – and especially from the US – of Japan’s participation in a global war on terrorism, it is suggested that the government simply has no other choice but to comply. The emphasis on international cooperation could also be seen in the policies adopted in the wake of 9/11 and in further institutional changes which are described in the subsequent sections.

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