Book Description

The post-World War II U.S.-Japan alliance has long been an anchor of the U.S. security role in East Asia. The alliance, with its access to bases in Japan, where about 53,000 U.S. troops are stationed, facilitates the forward deployment of U.S. military forces in the Asia-Pacific, thereby undergirding U.S. national security strategy. For Japan, the alliance and the U.S. nuclear umbrella provide maneuvering room in dealing with its neighbors, particularly China and North Korea. The Bush Administration has made significant strides in its goals of broadening U.S.-Japan strategic cooperation and encouraging Japan to assume a more active international role. Following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Japan made its first-ever military deployments in noncombat support of U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan. Koizumi was a prominent backer of the U.S. invasion of Iraq and in 2004 Tokyo sent noncombat troops to Iraq, despite considerable domestic opposition. Japan generally has supported the "hardline" U.S. position in the Six-Party Talks on North Korea's nuclear program. Japan is participating in bilateral missile defense research and development. In 2005 the U.S. and japan announced a sweeping new agreement to strengthen military cooperation. The plan calls for U.S. forces to be realigned and Japan to take on a more active (non-combat) role in maintaining regional and global security. The envisioned changes are intended to complement the broader Pentagon goal of deploying a more streamlined and mobile force in Asia. Most of these developments have been viewed warily by South Korea and opposed outright by China. Beijing and Seoul also have expressed concern at the assertive foreign policy stance adopted by Koizumi, who has been buoyed by heightened senses of nationalism and vulnerability (to North Korea and China) among many Japanese. Koizumi's party also has drafted a new constitution that would eliminate most of the clauses prohibiting participation in collective security arrangements. The United States has supported both moves. Sino-Japanese and Korean-Japanese tensions also have risen due to competing territorial claims and accusations that Japan is attempting to whitewash its history of aggression during the first half of the 20th Century. Koizumi's repeated visits to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine have further fueled China's and South Korea's resentment. Japan is one of the United States' most important economic partners. Outside of North America, it is the United States' largest export market and second-largest source of imports. Japanese firms are the U.S.'s second-largest source of foreign direct investment, and Japanese investors are by far the largest foreign holders of U.S. treasuries, helping to finance the U.S. deficit and reduce upward pressure on U.S. interest rates. Bilateral trade friction has decreased in recent years, partly because U.S. concern about the trade deficit with Japan has been replaced by concern about a much larger deficit with China. The exception was U.S. criticism over Japan's decision in 2003 to ban imports of U.S. beef.