The Strategic Impact of a Shifting Nuclear Security Consciousness in Japan

Since the end of the Cold War, there has been a gradual but significant evolution in how Japanese citizens and policymakers perceive their country's physical security and legitimate responses to security threats.  As the only country ever exposed to nuclear attack, Japan's strong advocacy for nuclear disarmament has been a major foreign policy priority.  Japanese citizens and policymakers alike have long nurtured a general "allergy" to robust military capabilities, particularly nuclear weapons.   More recently, Japanese citizens, responding to provocations by North Korea and the increasing sensationalism of North Korea and China by the media, have developed a sense of insecurity that leads them to question Japan's non-nuclear status quo.  However, the accident at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in the aftermath of the March 2011, the GEJE has dramatically revived Japan's "nuclear allergy." Mindful of these two opposing trend, this project will examine the strategic impact of recent shifts in nuclear security consciousness in Japan.    

Books & Reports

The New Nuclear Agenda: Prospects for US-Japan Cooperation (February 24, 2012)

Events

One Year After the Tsunami: A Report from Tohoku (April 11, 2012)

Analyses & Commentaries