Japan's Postwar Military and Civil Society

<p>Japan's so-called 'peace constitution' renounces war as a sovereign right of the nation and bans the nation from possessing any war potential. Yet Japan also maintains a large world-class military organization namely the Self-Defence Forces (SDF). In this book Tomoyuki Sasaki explores how the SDF enlisted popular support from civil society and how civil society responded to the growth of the SDF. <p/><i>Japan's Postwar Military and Civil Society</i> details the interactions between the SDF and civil society over four decades from the launch of rearmament in 1950. These interactions include recruitment civil engineering disaster relief anti-SDF litigation state financial support for communities with bases and a fear-mongering campaign against the Soviet Union. By examining these wide-range issues the book demonstrates how the militarization of society advanced as the SDF consolidated its ideological and socio-economic ties with civil society and its role as a defender of popular welfare. While postwar Japan is often depicted as a peaceful society this book challenges such a view and illuminates the prominent presence of the military in people's everyday lives.</p>