Japan Losing Military ‘Allergy’

Looks like excellent scenario fodder for any Japanese "resurgence" backgrounds. :smoke:

Japan Losing Military ‘Allergy’: Top Officer

By ISABEL REYNOLDS, REUTERS, TOKYO

DefenseNews

Japanese are developing a new respect for their country’s armed forces, in stark contrast to the distrust that prevailed for decades after defeat in World War Two, the military’s new chief of staff said on May 12.

Hajime Massaki, 62, was appointed to the newly created post in March in an attempt to draw together the air, sea and ground branches of what Japan calls its Self-Defense Forces and make them more effective.

Massaki, a native of the southernmost main island of Kyushu, joined the armed forces in 1968, at a time of mass demonstrations against a U.S.-Japan security treaty and widespread dislike of the military.

"At the time, Japan had an allergy to the defense forces," the olive-uniformed Massaki told Reuters in an interview at his office in the Defense Agency.

"We were seen as ‘stealing’ taxpayers’ money. It was a fight for survival," he added.

In a complete turnaround, a government poll released last month found 84 percent of respondents had a good impression of the armed forces, an all-time high.

A record-high 45 percent of respondents also said Japan was at risk of becoming involved in a war.

Japanese have been increasingly nervous about their security since 1998, when North Korea fired a ballistic missile that passed over Japan and landed in the Pacific, while concerns have also been growing about China’s increasing military might.

OVERSEAS PROJECTS

But Massaki said it was the armed forces’ own efforts that had helped Japanese to change their attitude.

"Our efforts to gain understanding, as well as the Self-Defense Forces’ successful handling of new missions have enabled the people to accept us," he said.

The latest such mission is the dispatch of 600 troops to the southern Iraqi town of Samawa on a humanitarian and reconstruction mission that has now lasted almost two and a half years.

The post-war constitution drafted under U.S. occupation officially prohibits Japan from maintaining armed forces or waging war, leaving the military in a dubious legal position.

Successive governments have interpreted the law as allowing the country to possess forces purely for defense purposes and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party hopes to revise the constitution to make the legal position clearer.

But memories of the militarism that propelled Japan into World War Two are still strong enough to hamper progress towards updating and strengthening the military.

A plan to upgrade the Defense Agency into a ministry was put on the back burner after a bid-rigging scandal, while the integration of the three branches of the forces has taken decades to complete.

"Integrating the forces has been our dream since the Self-Defense Forces were established about 50 years ago," Massaki told Reuters.

"This is a great turning point for us and I feel a great sense of responsibility," he said of the appointment, which makes him the chief aide to Japan’s Defense Agency Chief.

Before March, the air, sea and ground forces reported separately to the director general of the Defense Agency. That resulted in a widely criticized failure to coordinate over rescue operations after the Kobe earthquake in 1995.

Adopting the new joint staff system will also make it easier to coordinate with the United States, which has a similar structure, Massaki said.

As a part of a sweeping re-arrangement of the 50,000 U.S. troops based in Japan, agreed between the two national governments this month, Tokyo’s ground forces will establish command units within U.S. bases to promote coordination.

In another new development, the Japanese will for the first time play an active part in "Cobra Gold," a U.S.-backed international military drill that begins in Thailand next week, Massaki said.