ABSTRACT

The attitude of the Japanese people toward the United Nations has long been characterized by two contradicting faces: faith in the United Nations and reluctance to participate in UN peace operations. The determination of the post-war Japanese people never to wage war again has been strongly buttressed by the extremely negative image of the military shared in post-war Japanese society—another aspect of post-war Japanese pacifism. The Cold War environment, however, did not allow Japan to adopt the United Nations as a cornerstone of its foreign policy. Thus, the contradiction between the overriding faith of the Japanese people in the United Nations and their reluctance to participate in the UN peace operations has been resolved to a great extent. The Gulf War represented a watershed in the Japanese attitude toward overseas commitments. In addition, the Japanese guideline on the use of weapons by peacekeepers prescribed by the UN Peacekeeping Law shows a subtle but significant divergence from UN practice.