ABSTRACT
Chapter 5 examines the case of the Tohoku Earthquake in 2011. In particular, this chapter focuses on the US humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operation known as “Operation Tomodachi.” This operation mobilized 24,500 US services members, 189 aircrafts, and 24 naval ships of the United States Force, Japan (USFJ). This was the first ever “joint military operation” of the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) in their bilateral alliance history, with nearly 100,000 servicemen. This case is not about wars or terrorism that can visibly reveal “others”. As Chapters 3 and 4 argue, Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden were “others” because Japan and the United States collectively perceived them as violators of humanity, morality, or norms of international society. This chapter confirms the collective identity of the United States and Japan without such visible others, and their past was actually thier other. This chapter then recognizes these two nations’ “strong” collective identity.
