Japan and the War on Terror: New Book

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JAPAN AND THE 
WAR ON TERROR
Military Force and Political Pressure in the US-Japanese Alliance 
by
Michael Penn
Journalist and scholar based in Japan; President of the Shingetsu News Agency; APP member

Japan’s economic might and geographic location, close to China and North Korea with American bases across the Japanese archipelego gives the country the potential to be a major ally in the War on Terror. Although Japan’s Constitution does not allow for militarism or acts of war, in the post 9/11 world the use of the Japanese nation’s ‘Self-Defence Forces’ has become increasingly normal – a result of the exploitation of legal loopholes and political double-speak that has been used to bypass Japan’s pacifist ideology.

Michael Penn assesses the role of US diplomats and lobbyists in Tokyo, the Japanese and American politicians who see the War on Terror as a means of self-advancement, and the influence of
Washington's Alliance Managers in the unprecedented 2004 deployment of Japanese troops to Iraq. 

Using a huge range of primary source materials, including interviews with US insiders and Japanese policy makers, the book provides both a scholarly and lucid account of Japan’s relationship with the US and the Middle East from 9/11 to President Barack Obama and the death of Osama Bin Laden. He outlines how the War on Terrorism was used effectively to chip away at both the ideas and practice of Japanese non-involvement in the use of force for their military.

Hardback | 384 pages | 216 x 134 mm | ISBN 9781780763699 | July 2014 release