Missile makes Japan twitch new muscle

Japan has been one of the most active players in the North Korean "satellite" crisis. As a country well within the range of Pyongyang's ballistic missiles, Tokyo has good reason to be concerned, but the implications of its assertiveness in the past month are interesting in their own right.

When South Korea said on March 26 that it would intercept Pyongyang's Unha-3 rocket if the satellite's trajectory appears errant, the warning came three days after Japanese Defense Minister Naoki Tanaka's announcement that Tokyo was readying Aegis-class warships and PAC-3 surface-to-air missiles in preparation for North Korea's rocket launch. That was quite a move for a country that constitutionally renounces the use of force as means of settling international disputes.

Tokyo's aggressively defensive posture towards Pyongyang is indicative of the shift in Japanese foreign policy since the end of the Cold War. In particular, the Yoshida Doctrine, established by Japanese prime minister Shigeru Yoshida in the immediate aftermath of World War II to renounce coercive foreign policy and focus entirely on economic development, appears increasingly passed over by Japan's new leaders.

The doctrine had allowed for the relatively quick mending of political relations with victims of Japanese imperialism and had ensured rapid economic growth that secured Tokyo's prestige and power in the international community. But the Cold War is over and new conditions force the state to adapt or face the consequences. Read More