Militarisation and Demilitarisation in Contemporary Japan (Nissan Institute Routledge Japanese Studies Series)
Publisher: Routledge
Published: December 20, 1995
Language: eng
Number of pages: 272
ISBN-13: 9780415022743
First sentence: Two specialized agencies of the state, the police and the military, which are duty-bound to protect the lives and property of the citizens, continue to maintain the most significant control of the modern means of violence, despite the profileration of weapons to nationalist and terrorist groups.
Description: The critical approach adopted in this study seeks to trace the gradual transformation of Japan into a 'normal' military state, the political forces supporting and opposing this transition, and the underlying values at the base of the critique of militarization.

By meticulous analysis of Japanese primary and secondary materials the study shows how the intertwined issues of Japanese 'identity' and military 'normality' are at the centre of the tension between internal and external pressures on Japanese defence and security policies.

With chapters on peace thought, the militarization and demilitarization of language as well as the 'hard' aspects of the Japanese military build-up in the 1980s and the response to the Gulf crisis in the 1990s, the study challenges many of the preconceived notions on Japanese defence and security policies and the policy making process in Japan.