Three Non - Nuclear Principles Japan ' s are a parliamentary resolution ( never adopted into law ) that have guided Japanese nuclear policy since their inception in the late 1960s , and reflect general public sentiment and national policy since the end of World War II . The tenets state that " Japan shall neither possess nor manufacture nuclear weapon s , nor shall it permit their introduction into Japanese territory " . The principles were outlined by Prime Minister Eisaku Satō in a speech to the House of Representatives in 1967 amid negotiations over the return of Okinawa from the United States . The Diet formally adopted the principles in 1971 . Overview . After the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Japanese public sentiment grew firmly opposed to the presence of nuclear weapons on Japanese soil , or even in Japanese waters . During Eisaku Satō ' s first term as Prime Minister , this opposition became a major obstacle to his campaign pledge to end the U . S . occupation of Okinawa , returning the island to Japanese control . The U . S . military was thought to keep nuclear weapons on the island , though it did not confirm or deny such weapons , and Satō faced opposition to reacquisition unless the nuclear presence was removed . As a compromise , Satō appeased the United States by bringing Japan into the Nuclear Non - Proliferation Treaty ( NPT ) in exchange for a nuclear - free , Japan - controlled Okinawa . In the years leading up to this agreement , Satō was forced to appease public concerns that his administration might favor a nuclear weapons program ; to this end , he introduced the Three Non - Nuclear Principles in a December 11 , 1967 address to the Diet . ( Actually , the principles of nonproduction , nonpossession , and nonintroduction had been stated by Defense Agency Director - general Kanehichi Masuda that May . ) Satō worried , though , that the principles might produce too great a restraint on Japan ' s defense . To lessen their restrictive effect on the military , in a speech the following February he placed the principles within the broader framework of his Four - Pillars Nuclear Policy . The pillars , in mimicry of the three pillars of the NPT , were The fourth pillar left room for policy change in the future , calling for Japan to abide by the principles " under the circumstances where Japan ' s national security is guaranteed by the other three policies " . The Diet passed a resolution formally adopting the principles in 1971 , though they were not made law . Eisaku Satō was presented with the Nobel Peace Prize in 1974 , in large part for his work toward Japan ' s entry into the NPT . In his Nobel Lecture ( on the seventh anniversary of his original statement to the Diet ) , Satō reiterated and discussed the Three Non - Nuclear Principles and expressed hope and confidence that future governments would adopt them as well . Every Prime Minister of Japan since Satō has publicly reaffirmed the Three Non - Nuclear Principles . However , Japanese government - sponsored studies have been carried out in the past — and are suspected by many to be ongoing — to assess the feasibility of developing a nuclear weapons program . In recent years public officials and nuclearization advocates have been unprecedentedly vocal in questioning the principles , but the public remains committed to them .