unit 4

1. Last Week: Structure, Agency and Norms
• International structures: the external
environment in which a state and its
people are enmeshed and interact (states,
institutions and regional frameworks)
• Domestic agency: the leading actors and
policy makers of a given era
(Business/TNC leaders, bureaucracy and
ruling party and Prime Minister’s office)
• Dominant norms: Bilateralism
(international), antimilitarism,
developmentalism, economism (domestic)

2. Unit 4
Japan’s Political Relations with
The United States
Prof. Glenn D Hook

3. Aim
• To apply the concepts and theoretical approach
introduced to Japan's political relations with the
United States.
AgencyStructure
Norms

4. Objectives
1) To identify the relative importance of structure, agency and
norms in explaining how the strong US-Japan political
relationship emerged in the Post-War and post-Cold War eras;
2) To demonstrate how structure, agency and norms can be used
to explain the US-Japan political relationship in case studies
such as Japan’s normalization of relations with the Soviet
Union in 1956 , Japan’s reaction to the Vietnam War,
normalization of relations with China in 1972 and involvement
in the War on Terror;
3) To explain how the bilateral relationship with the US has been
influenced by Japan’s domestic society and public opinion.

5. Emergence of the post-War
bilateral relationship
Goals of the restructuring of the Japanese
domestic order by the U.S. (1945-52):
• Japan never again become a threat;
• To rid militarism and to foster anti-
militarism and democracy;
• To set in motion a radical transformation of
Japan under the slogans of demilitarization
and democratization.
General Douglas McArthur

6. Implementation of US goals
• Democratization of Japan’s political, economic and
social systems by the U.S.:
• Revising the Meiji Constitution;
• Transfer the power from the Emperor to the people;
• Set up a bicameral house of elected political
representatives;
• Provide the voting right to all citizens aged 20 or over;
• Establish Article 9 to prevent the return of militarism.

7. Signatures for the 1946 constitution

8. Cold War and post-Cold War changes
• Cold War US-Japan political relationship:
i. US government began to place greater weight on
integrating Japan into the Western camp, politically,
economically & militarily;
ii. Japanese leaders did not resist and pursued a pro-US
policy;
iii. With the consolidation of the bipolar structure, Japan’s
international relations became tightly linked to the US.

9. • Post-Cold War US-Japan political
relationship:
i. Japan is particularly vulnerable to US pressure;
ii. Bilateralism – Japan’s prioritization of the US-
Japan relationship;
iii. This arrangement largely continues, despite
administrative change.

10. Japan’s Normalization of Relations
with the Soviet Union in 1956
• Structure: the reduction of international tensions in the mid-1950s
signalling a thaw in the East-West confrontation;
• Events: Korean War Armistice; death of the leader of the USSR, Joseph
Stalin, in 1953; launch of the non-aligned movement (NAM); four powers’
agreement on the neutralization of Austria in 1954; USSR leader Nikita
Khrushchev’s denunciation of Stalin at the Twentieth Party Congress in
1956.
• Agency: Pro Japan independence: Hatoyama Ichiro (1955),
other mainstream factions of the LDP & the fishing
industry; Pro-US: certain segments of the domestic
society, the Yoshida-led factions and the MOFA;
• Norms: Contention between the norms of
anti-communism, bilateralism, and sovereignty.
PM Yukio Hatayama

11. Japan and the Vietnam War
• Structure: bipolarity -> insufficient to explain Japan’s inability to
provide military support to the U.S.
• Agency:
Pro-U.S.: Prime Minister Sato Eisaku;
Opposition: Article 9 informed policy
making agents; local governments and
other sub-national political actors ;
• Norms: tension between the bilateralism, anti-communism, and anti-
militarism norms.

12. Prime Minister Sato Eisaku and President Richard Nixon

13. Japan’s Normalization of
Relations with China in 1972
Structure: From the early 1970s, the gradual weakening of the US;
Doubts about the political wisdom of pursuing a uniform anti-communist
policy; Question the continuing need to isolate the Chinese communist
regime; The move of the international system away from a strict
ideological bipolarity; The change in the structure of the international
system provided the opportunity for Sato to push forward with the
normalization of Sino-Japanese relations.
Agency: Prime minister Tanaka Kakuei elected (not Sato’s successor );
pro-China factions of the LDP; other political parties which were keen to
develop relations with China, such as the Japan Socialist Party, the
Democratic Socialist Party (DSP), the Japan Communist Party (JCP)
and the Komei Party; big business were keen to develop business links
with China, such as companies in the steel, chemical and automobile
industries (Kawasaki, Sumitomo, Toyota, Nissan and Honda).

14. Japan’s Normalization of Relations with
China in 1972 (Norms)

15. Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei and
Prime Minister Zhou Enlai

16. Japan and the “War on Terror”
• Structure: Post 9/11 international environment presented as
requiring new forms of political cooperation to ensure security.
Revitalized US-Japan alliance under Bush and Koizumi
governments. Establishment of common political enemies.
• Agency: Koizumi, Abe, Fukuda (to a lesser extent) and Asō
proactive in supporting US-led wars and operations. US support for
Japan’s participation in Six Party Talks and high-level cooperation
on North Korean issues, despite Japan’s anger over the US’s
removal of the DPRK from its list of state sponsors of terrorism.
Reconciling of bilateral political interests led by MOFA, Noda,
Obama and Abe:
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2013/01/22/u-s-central-to-abe-doctrine-in-japanese-pms-lost-policy-speech/
• Norms: Reinvigorated bilateralism

17. The influence of domestic
society and public opinion
• Structure: Broad public support for close relations with the United
States. Domestic resistance to specific US policy issues and actions
(US-led wars, stationing of US troops in Japan etc.)
• Agency: Media and public opinion moving against US-led war in
Iraq. Discontent raised by media, civil rights groups, local politicians
and local people over US stationing of troops on Okinawa, US
abuse of local citizens and relocation of bases.
• Norms: bilateralism countered by deep-rooted anti-militarism at the
domestic level

18. Conclusion
• Japan’s behaviour within the context of the US-Japan political
relationship can be understood through the structure, agency,
and norms approach.
• Structure can impede/constrain Japan’s behaviour and can
also provide opportunities.
• Agency is important in accepting the pressures of structure,
initiating and negotiating policy. It involves a range of actors.
• Norms can constrain as well as provide opportunity for
behaviour or policy.