ABSTRACT
Asked what comes to mind when Japan is mentioned and many non-Japanese people would reply ‘sushi and whaling’; and maybe Hello Kitty and the Peace Constitution. Absent in the popular imagination is Japan’s status as one of the world’s largest defence spenders, and the fact that its military capacity is integral to the US Grand Strategy in the Asia Pacific. As recently as 2006 Japan emerged as the US’ largest defence missile partner, having tested weapons off the coast of Hawaii. Tellingly, in 2006 Japan upgraded its Defence Agency into a Ministry, indicating expanded responsibilities and status. Even most Japanese citizens are unlikely to realize the extent of Japan’s military muscle. However, as a sign of change, since the 1990s, the Japanese Self Defence Forces (SDF), and nationalist forces more broadly, have tried to inculcate into the population-at-large the idea that Japan is a military power of some significance. The resulting messages are contradictory, and significantly depart from the cultivated image of a ‘pacifist’ Japan that has accompanied the country’s rise as an economic power.
