Introduction
Forged in the wake of World War II, the U.S.-Japan alliance is as important as ever to both countries’ interests in Asia. A more assertive China, a nuclear-armed North Korea, and a revisionist Russia that is waging a war on Ukraine have pushed the alliance to make historic adjustments, including crafting a larger role for Japan’s military. In 2022 Japan announced a new military and defense strategy, pledged to nearly double its military spending and acquire long-range counterstrike capabilities, and introduced major reforms to the Japan Self-Defense Forces, as its military is officially known. Meanwhile, some sticking points in the partnership remain, such as cost-sharing and U.S. military bases on Okinawa.
How did Japan and the United States become allies?
Signed in 1951 alongside the Treaty of San Francisco that formally ended World War II, the U.S.-Japan Mutual Security Treaty was a ten-year, renewable agreement that outlined how Japan, in light of its pacifist constitution, would allow U.S. forces to remain on its soil after Japan regained sovereignty. This early pact dovetailed with the Yoshida Doctrine—a postwar strategy crafted by Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida that saw Japan rely on the United States for its security needs so the country could focus on rebuilding its economy. Yoshida’s government created the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) in 1954, despite strong domestic objections based on Article Nine of the postwar constitution, which prohibits the maintenance of military forces or the use of those forces to settle international disputes.
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