Table Of ContentTemporal Identities and Security
Policy in Postwar Japan
Through a discourse analysis of Japanese parliamentary debates, this book
explores how different understandings of Japan’s history have led to sharply
divergent security policies in the postwar period, whilst providing an explana-
tion for the much-d ebated security policy changes under Abe Shinzō.
Analyzing the ways identities can be constructed through ‘temporal othering,’
as well as ‘spatial othering,’ this book examines the rise of a new form of iden-
tity in Japan since the end of the Cold War, one that is differentiated not from
prewar and wartime Japan, but from postwar Japan. The champions of this iden-
tity, it argues, see the postwar past as a shameful period, characterized by self-
imposed military restrictions, and thus the relentless chipping away of these
limitations in recent years is indicative of how dominant this identity has
become. Exploring how these military restrictions have shifted from being a
symbol of pride to a symbol of shame, this book demonstrates the concrete ways
in which the past can both enable and constrain policy.
Temporal Identities and Security Policy in Postwar Japan will be invaluable
to students and scholars of Japanese politics and foreign policy, as well as inter-
national relations more generally.
Ulv Hanssen is a lecturer at Soka University, Japan, and an associate research
fellow at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs. His research interests
include identity in postwar Japan and Japan’s international relations.
European Institute of Japanese Studies,
East Asian Economics & Business Series
Edited by Marie Söderberg
Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden
This series presents cutting edge research on recent developments in business
and economics in East Asia. National, regional and international perspectives are
employed to examine this dynamic and fast-m oving area.
8 Institutional Change in Japan
Edited by Magnus Blomström and Sumner La Croix
9 North Korea Policy
Japan and the great powers
Edited by Linus Hagström and Marie Söderberg
10 Japan’s Politics and Economy
Perspectives on change
Edited by Marie Söderberg and Patricia A. Nelson
11 Changing Power Relations in Northeast Asia
Implications for Relations between Japan and South Korea
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12 Japanese Development Cooperation
The Making of an Aid Architecture Pivoting to Asia
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13 The EU- Japan Partnership in the Shadow of China
The Crisis of Liberalism
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14 Temporal Identities and Security Policy in Postwar Japan
Ulv Hanssen
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Temporal Identities and
Security Policy in
Postwar Japan
Ulv Hanssen
First published 2020
by Routledge
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© 2020 Ulv Hanssen
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Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
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ISBN: 978-1-138-33170-9 (hbk)
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Contents
List of figures vi
Series editor’s preface vii
Preface and acknowledgments viii
List of abbreviations xi
1 Introduction and theory 1
2 Two competing security discourses, 1945–1960 33
3 Hypothetical enemies, 1960–1970 61
4 The historic experiment: Refusing to become a great
military power, 1970–1980 80
5 The emergence of the normal nation discourse,
1980–1990 103
6 Discursive rise and fall, 1990–2000 122
7 Japan as a responsible member of the international
community, 2000–2010 149
8 Breaking out of the postwar regime, 2010–2019 173
9 Conclusion 201
Index 211
Figures
6.1 Number of references to ‘international contribution’ [kokusai
kōken] in the Budget Committee, 1987–2018 137
7.1 Number of references to ‘responsible member of the
international community’ [kokusai shakai no sekinin aru
ichiin], all committees, 1960–2018 150
Series editor’s preface
Japanese security policy has been a constant topic of debate since the end of
World War II. It is also a field that has seen substantial changes. From being a
country whose Self- Defense Forces were not even allowed to train with the
American forces in the country or to possess equipment for refueling that would
have enabled its air force to conduct long-r ange flights outside its borders, it is
now, after a reinterpretation of its war-r enouncing constitution, even allowed to
participate in collective self- defense! This book explains how this change hap-
pened by using identity construction and discourse theory. It builds on material
from Ulv Hanssen’s PhD thesis and covers Japanese security policy throughout
the entire postwar period.
It is an important piece of work in the sense that it really gives depth to the
understanding of the historical development of Japan’s present security policy.
Too often we tend to forget the past and have difficulties in understanding what
shaped policy in the postwar period. It is not only the rise of China or the North
Korean nuclear threat that has driven Japan to strengthen its security capabilities.
Neither is it a result of pressure from American President Donald Trump. To
justify such changes in policy there also had to be changes in identity and in the
way the Japanese compared themselves to Others.
The analytical framework used in the book increases the understanding of
Japan’s security policy for those who are new to the topic but it also brings
further understanding to those who have followed Japanese security policy for
several decades. Although centered on the Japanese case, the book brings us
empirical evidence using a new constructivist theoretical framework that can be
employed in other cases of security studies as well. Thus it contributes both from
an empirical and a theoretical perspective. It is an important and indeed very
timely study that we believe will influence other studies in the security field. We
are proud to present it in our series.
Marie Söderberg
Preface and acknowledgments
This book is based on my 2017 PhD dissertation titled Japan’s Temporal Others:
How the Past Has Shaped Japanese Postwar Security Policy (Graduate School
of East Asia Studies, Freie Universität Berlin). The book can be understood as
an attempt at making sense of one of the most riveting puzzles in postwar Japan:
how could the Japanese people go from regarding self- imposed military restric-
tions as an object of pride and exceptionalism to regarding them as an object of
shame and abnormality?
In the 1970s, Japanese prime ministers bragged of Japan’s resolve to refrain
from transforming its economic power into military power. This was said to con-
stitute nothing less than an unprecedented and ‘historic experiment’ that demon-
strated to the world that Japan was an exceptional ‘peace state.’ In other words,
Japan’s much-d ebated peace state identity was inextricably linked to Japan’s
ostensibly unique moderation in the military sphere.
But how times have changed. Today, Japan has lifted its long- standing ban on
collective self- defense and is on the verge of acquiring preemptive strike mis-
siles and aircraft carriers—all measures that for decades have been interpreted as
being in violation of Japan’s ‘peace constitution.’ Moreover, the government
now argues that these increased military capabilities should be understood as
proof that Japan truly is a peace state. The 2018 National Defense Program
Guidelines, for example, state that ‘Japan’s defense capability is the ultimate
guarantor of its security and the clear representation of the unwavering will and
ability of Japan as a peace-l oving nation.’ In other words, the Japanese peace
state is today articulated in a way that is diametrically opposite to how it tradi-
tionally has been framed in the official discourse. While the peace state was once
constructed upon ideas of military moderation, it is now constructed upon ideas
of military strengthening. How did this happen?
This book argues that the answer to this question is to be found in the intense
hegemonic struggle between various security discourses in postwar Japan. These
discourses have presented widely different interpretations of what kind of
country Japan should be and, consequently, what kind of security policy it
should pursue. Their proposals for Japan’s security policy have ranged from
unarmed neutrality to military alignment to unrestrained autonomy. However,
beneath the different policy proposals lies an even more fundamental difference:
Preface and acknowledgments ix
the question of how to view Japan’s past—or pasts, to be precise. For those who
have understood the postwar peace state as a counter-i mage to the militarist past
of the prewar and wartime period, self-i mposed security restrictions have consti-
tuted a commonsensical way of symbolizing the difference between past and
present. Security restrictions have thus evoked pride because they symbolize
postwar Japan’s positive development away from a negatively loaded past.
However, for those who regret Japan’s emasculated posture in the postwar
period, the peace state is seen as a yet-t o-come utopia that will materialize only
when Japan sheds its naive and abnormal postwar mindset. To borrow Prime
Minister Abe Shinzō’s words, Japan will become a true peace state when it
‘breaks out of the postwar regime.’ In this discourse, shedding the security
restrictions becomes symbolic of a departure from an abnormal postwar past
toward a normal future. The fundamental question that has permeated the
Japanese security debate throughout the postwar period is thus which past the
peace state should be differentiated from—the prewar/wartime past of militarism
and violence, or the postwar past of pacifism and abnormality? What security
policy one perceives as ideal differs greatly depending on which past one regards
as one’s temporal Other.
Through a discourse analysis of Japanese parliamentary debates in the
postwar period, this study traces the shift from the first mode of temporal
othering (Japan’s prewar/wartime past) to the second mode of temporal othering
(Japan’s postwar past). By doing so, it provides answers to the puzzle of Japan’s
changing security policy and identity. It is my hope that the analysis not only
will shed light on Japan’s development in the postwar period, but also provide
hints about the future trajectory of Japanese security policy.
The analysis herein draws on poststructuralist discourse theory, but I have
deliberately avoided the typical discourse theoretical jargon, which, to me at
least, often feels unnecessarily inaccessible and more than a little smug. It has
always amazed me how discourse theorists, who place such a strong emphasis
on the construction of hegemonies, seemingly do everything in their power to
prevent their theory from ever becoming hegemonic. This book draws only
selectively on discourse theory and strives to conduct an empirically rich dis-
course analysis that even people with no knowledge of the theory can under-
stand, enjoy, and benefit from. I realize that there is a risk that doctrinaire
discourse theorists might therefore dismiss the following as a ‘discourse analysis
light,’ but that is a trade-o ff I am more than willing to make.
Many people deserve acknowledgment for making this book project possible.
First and foremost I want to thank Linus Hagström for invaluable supervision
during my doctoral program and for many helpful conversations since. I also
want to direct a big thank you to Marie Söderberg for many fun and thought-
stimulating talks during my time at the European Institute of Japanese Studies,
as well as for giving me the honor of publishing in her book series. I am grateful
to the Jacob Wallenberg Foundation for funding me for five months in
2017/2018 and thus allowing me to get the book project underway. Eunhee Woo
deserves a lot of credit for helping me with translations and argumentation. This
