Whither Pacifism in Cold War Japan? An Interpretive Path (1947–1990)

Japan’s transformation, in the aftermath of the Second World War, from an unconditionally surrendered and catastrophically devastated country to a pacifist parliamentary democracy, should be analyzed in the framework of a series of “developments” that took place both nationally and internationally. The development, or crucial phases, of this process concerned the formulation of its pacifist identity and its institutionalization as state policy. Imposed on Japan by the Americans as a binding constitutional principle, pacifism served functionally and effectively so that the country could focus its resources and energies on economic reconstruction, while the national security was delivered into the hands of the United States. This strategy then sublimated a few years later in the so-called Yoshida Doctrine which, however, had its costs in the long-term.