Japan’s Security and Defense Policies.The More it Changes,the More it Stays the Same?

Japan’s regional and global defense and security policies have undergone a tangible and for a country’s that refers to itself as “pacifist” indeed impressive development in recent years 1 . The Japanese military and humanitarian missions in the Indian Ocean and Iraq discussed below are part and the results of these developments and trends, and especially Japan’s humanitarian mission and operations in Iraq can be considered to be a successful “test case” for a qualitatively “new” regional and global Japanese approach towards international security 2 . Although some observers and commentators (admittedly many of them are Chinese – officials and scholars likewise) suggest that Japan is slowly but surely seeking to expand and upgrade its military equipment turning them from defense to potentially offensive, Japan is in reality as far as ever away from equipping itself with offensive defense capabilities posing a threat to its neighboring countries. Suggestions by Japanese politicians (and a Minister in 2003, see below) to equip Japan with offensive military capabilities to deal with the perceived North Korean threat in a “pre-emptive” way was considered to be unacceptable and unconceivable and consequently never made it even close to Japan’s official security and defense policy agenda.