ABSTRACT
A new debate over Japan's security began to evolve in which a bewildering variety of viewpoints were expressed in leading journals, newspapers, and monographs. The realists perceive that the military balance between the United States and the Soviet Union had shifted in favor of the Soviet Union by the late seventies and that Japan's security became threatened by greater Soviet military power in the Far East. The diplomats comprise former bureaucrats and politicians who are not especially alarmed about Japan's security, to which they see no immediate threat. The term conservatives to refer to those members of the Japan Socialist Party and other opposition parties that are adamant about preserving the status quo on defense. Intellectuals and security analysts who share this view are also included in this group. Some experts also argue that Japan should behave as a major state in the international arena by acquiring a nuclear deterrent.
