“For more than 50 years, the alliance between Japan and the United States has been the cornerstone of security in the Asia Pacific region” (Clinton, 2011). In its fiftieth anniversary, the alliance faced a tumultuous year, but appears to have recovered following North Korea’s shelling of Yeonyeong Island, the arrest of a Chinese captain following a collision with a Japanese Coast Guard ship, and the collective joint effort after the devastating earthquake and tsunami on March 11 dubbed Operation Tomodachi. These events have reinforced the notion that mutual regional and global interests will help ensure the alliance remains strong. However, the strategic environment of the Asia-Pacific region has and continues to change, and the alliance will have to learn to adapt quickly to the new environment.
With Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda’s announcement at the APEC summit held in Hawaii this past weekend that Japan will enter into Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, the economics aspects of the alliance appear to be progressing in light of the changing strategic environment. It has been no secret that the U.S. has been pushing hard for Japan to enter into TPP talks and President Barack Obama praised Prime Minister Noda’s decision in face of strong opposition within his own party and the politically strong agricultural sector as one that, “could provide an historic opportunity to deepen bilateral economic ties” (Lindsay, 2011).
While economic challenges still remain between the U.S. and Japan, the biggest obstacles to the alliance persist in the security aspects of the relationship. The implementation of the Marine Corps Air Station Futenma relocation agreement remains unresolved and as was demonstrated last year has the p...
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...retation of the constitution to exercise the right of collective self-defense should be pursued in line with this proactive approach. However, given the current economic climate, budgetary constraints may impede any major developments in the alliance on the side of the Japanese or the U.S.
Following the debacle of the Futenma relocation issue last year, the major challenge facing the U.S.-Japan alliance is restoring mutual confidence with each other. While basing issues are fundamental to this process it is important to recognize that the U.S.-Japan alliance has more to offer. It is time for the alliance to expand its scope and incorporate other areas of cooperation that are mutually beneficial to both countries. The alliance is certainly in a better position than a year ago but must maintain flexibility to meet the changing demands of the Asia-Pacific landscape.
In chapter two “Stalin, Truman, and Hirohito Face New Challenges” Hasegawa takes ample time to discuss key policy decisions as the war came to a close. Beginning with the planning of the American invasion of Japan to commence on November 1, 1945, and the staggering American casualties at Okinawa causing planners to rethink invasion. The key to this chapter however, is the transition of power from Roosevelt to Truman. As Truman inherited wartime America, he had difficult decisions...
After evaluating the above factors, it is clear that the partnership between Australia and Japan is of significant importance to both countries. With reference to the Centre for Study of Australian-Asian Relations (1997:152) the future prosperity of Australia will to an increasing extent, be dependent on that of her neighbours in the Asia-Pacific area. Currently the Australia-Japan relationship could be described as “comfortable and relaxed”. However both Australia and Japan need to be alert to the changing environment and must ensure that the right frameworks and policy settings are in place in order for the two countries to prosper.
Starting in the early 1930’s, the Japanese began to display their great imperialistic dreams with ambition and aggression. Their goal was to create a "Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere" where they controlled a vast empire in the western Pacific.1 In September of 1939, Japan signed the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis Treaty, allying themselves with Germany and Italy in an effort to safeguard their interests in China from the Soviet Union. Japan’s only major obstacle left lay in the significant size of the United States Pacific Fleet. To rid themselves of this, Japan attacked the United States Pacific Fleet in hopes of crippling it enough to prevent any further hindrance from the US. Although Japan began the War in the Pacific on the offensive, winning many battles and gaining significant territories, the tide quickly turned in favor of the US because of the their dominating industrial capacity. Thus, the Japanese began to resort to ghastly measures to prevent a humiliating defeat.
The bombings of 1945 by the United States of America on Japan were very controversial events. Many historians believe these acts were aggressive and unnecessary. In addition, analysts argue that the U.S. should have used alternative methods instead of the bomb, but most do not realize the repercussions of these different tactics. On the contrary, the bomb was needed to ease tension quickly and effectively. Ultimately, the bomb proved more effective than any other method, and also proved to be a technique that is sufficient for America’s needs. The effort made by the U.S. to bomb Japan after their disapproval of the Potsdam Declaration was needed to end conflicts in the Pacific because of Japanese resistance, to save American lives, and to portray the U.S. as a nation of power and dominance.
‘Tora Tora Tora’ shows quite frequently the attempts to form diplomacy with the U.S., so that both nations can have peace. In the beginning, the film shows the German, Italian and Japanese governments signing the Tripartite Treaty. The film then continues to depict senior military commanders and admirals discussing a preventive strike on the U.S. in order to protect their advance into Malaya and the Dutch East Indies to obtain natural resources; oil and rubber. Knowing that if they further advanced into South-East Asia and unfriendly relationships continued, the U.S. would retaliate (the U.S. had already placed sanctions and embargoes upon the Japanese for their invasion into Manchuria), therefore the Japanese Navy reluctantly agreed to execute a preventive strike on the U.S. Pacific Fleet based in Pearl Harbour. We learn that between the Army and the Navy, there was a dispute over they key to victory on the modern battlefield – One who believed in the infallibility of naval and power and the others who believed in the dominance of air power.
On December 7th 1941, Japanese Planes and submarines attacked the United States Naval base at Pearl Harbor. This event singlehandedly brought the U.S from its then neutral stance in World War Two to a fighting member of the “Allied Powers.” Pearl Harbor was the first of a long series of confrontations between the U.S and the Japanese in an effort to gain control of the Pacific. Unlike the “War in Europe” the Pacific strategy was dominated by naval and aerial battles, with the occasional land-based “Island Hopping” Campaign. As such, one of the most important factors in the war in the pacific was Fleet Size, the more ships a country could send to war, the better. Pearl Harbor was the Japanese’s way of trying to deal with the massive U.S Pacific fleet. However, Pearl Harbor was not the turning point of the war. After December 7th the United States began work on numerous technological developments which would ultimately help them in one of the most important battles of WWII, the largest naval confrontation of the war, The Battle of Midway. The battle, which took place from June 4th to June 7th , 1942 is widely considered the turning point of the Pacific Theater (James & Wells). Through the Post-Pearl Harbor desire for “Revenge” and various technological advantages including code breaking and radar, the U.S were able to outsmart the Japanese at Midway and ultimately win the battle, eventually leading to a victory in the Pacific.
Nester, William R. 1996. Power across the Pacific: A Diplomatic History of American Relations with Japan. New York: New York University Press.
In summary, Japan’s military buildup before the Pacific War coupled with its recent combat experience left Japan’s prewar preparation only slightly more resolute than the United States and this advantage was deleted by time. Japan’s current technological position was superior to that of America’s at the start of the war where craftsmanship generated higher-quality products to defeat quantitative numbers of a larger foe. Japanese doctrine and training were simply better. Finally, Japan’s limited strategy was logically sound and culturally acceptable to them.
In the spring of 1945, the plans for the invasion of the Japanese home islands, code-named “Operation Downfall” were being drawn up. It was to be the largest operation of the war (Skates, 1994, P. 4), involving up to 39 divi...
The war in Asia had its roots in the early 1930s. Japan had expansionist aims in Eastern Asia and the Western Pacific, especially in Indochina2. In July of 1940 the United States placed an embargo on materials exported to Japan, including oil in the hope of restraining Japanese expansionism. Nevertheless, tensions remained high in Asia, and only increased in 1939 when Germany ignited World War II with an invasion of Poland. America’s determination to remain isolated changed abruptly following Japan’s “surprise attack” on Pearl Harbor on December 7th 1941. Military strategists and politicians poured the majority of American war effort into the European theater, and before the United States could fully mobilize most of South-East Asia had fallen to Japan, including the Philippines. Slowly, the United States recaptured the many small islands invaded by Japan, including Guadalcanal, Bougainville, Tarawa, Saipan, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. These “Japanese forces waged a stubborn, often suicidal battles were ferocious; although the Americans won each, resistance.” They demolished the Japanese fleet and establis...
Jones, Mike. “War in the Pacific.” Lecture, US Naval Post Graduate School, Monterey, CA, May 5-7, 2014.
INTRODUCTION : a brief overview of the current situation regarding the security issue in the Pacific region
Introduction – Pearl Harbor was vulnerable to attack because of the obstruction of defense and warning.
Economic restoration of Japan is the number one goal; and this will be attained in part through cooperation with the U.S., both politically as well as economically.
Given these sets of circumstances, china, Taiwan and United States have much to gain and even more to lose if an armed conflict erupts in the Taiwan Strait. All three countries have political, economic, and national security issues involved and united states and china are both in competition economic...