ABSTRACT
Passivity and indifference were thus the general attributes of the way the Japanese press handled United Nations conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)-related news. Potentially a formidable actor in an area as directly relevant to national security as ocean policy, the Japanese military was hardly even heard from either at UNCLOS sessions or in the domestic debates on UNCLOS issues. Technically, the agency participated in interministry consultations and decision making on UNCLOS issues through its Law of the Sea Office headed by the civilian director of the Defense Division in the Defense Bureau. Before and shortly after the 1974 session in Caracas, conflicts of opinion among the ministries and agencies were such that, first, a formal inter ministry liaison committee was appointed by the Cabinet in May 1974 and, second, the committee soon proved incapable of generating agreement among the participants on such key UNCLOS issues as exclusive economic zone.
