Japans Security Renaissance: Evolution or Revolution?

Abstract

Change has been the dominant theme in Japan for the last decade, and none is more profound than the transformation in Japans security policy. The seemingly immovable Yoshida doctrine is crumbling under the Koizumi administrations efforts to beef up the nations security in response to the North Korean threat. Within the last few years, Japan saw the first post-1945 overseas deployment of the Self-Defense Forces and the launching of its first spy satellite. To many, this represents a revolutionary change in Japanese security posture, but in reality they are the culmination of a long-drawn evolutionary process that begun since the end of the Cold War. This paper argues that the current security renaissance is a sign of the emerging Koizumi Doctrine grand strategy, in which Japan aims to eradicate the economic giant, political pygmy moniker by expanding its global influence through limited global security cooperation.