ABSTRACT
During the Cold War, nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation became a major concern in the international community. Japan, having experienced the carnage of nuclear weapons, also resolved to tackle this problem. This chapter examines Japan’s nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation diplomacy, focusing on the following problems and measures: the issue of nuclear weapons tests in the 1950s, negotiations for the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in the latter half of the 1960s, and prohibiting the use of nuclear weapons. They were related to Japan’s ‘non-nuclear’ policy consisted of the Three Non-Nuclear Principles, efforts for promoting nuclear disarmament, the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, and relying on US extended nuclear deterrence. This chapter unravels that the confluence of public opinion and party politics exerted a significant influence on the formation of Japan’s ‘non-nuclear’ policy and the unfolding of the government’s disarmament and non-proliferation diplomacy. By scrutinising the link between Japan’s domestic politics and diplomacy, this chapter also illuminates a more multi-faceted image of Japan as a ‘Hibakukoku’, a country that had experienced atomic bombings.
