Japan’s New Defense Establishment: Institutions, Capabilities and Implications traces the evolution of Japanese defense and security policy and implications for the geopolitical environment in East Asia. The contributors to the volume- Yuki Tatsumi (Research Fellow, Stimson Center), Andrew Oros (Assistant Professor, Washington College), and Ken Jimbo (Keio University)- examine the evolution of Japan’s security institutions, existing legal frameworks and emerging defense strategy. As they consider the constraints of article nine of Japan’s constitution, the contributors offer bold analyses of how the Japanese Self-Defense Force will adapt to changes in the architecture of global peace and security. In doing so, the publication analyzes the incremental changes in the roles, missions and capabilities of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces which have resulted in internal debate within the country regarding the deployment of Japanese forces to global trouble-spots like Iraq.
Dr. Jim Auer of Vanderbilt University, who served as Senior Country Director for Japan in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, said, “The volume is the most analytical study of Japan’s defense policy since Martin Weinstein’s watershed Japan’s Postwar Defense Policy 1947-1968, published more than 35 years ago.”
The publication launch was hosted at the Henry L. Stimson Center on March 30, 2007.