On The Strengthening Of Japan - US Alliance From The Perspective Of Japan In The Early 21st Century

In recent years, the Japan-U.S. Alliance has been involved in a constantlydeveloping and deepening process. From the Japanese perspective, there are a lot ofreasons behind this fact.First, politically, Japan wants to extricate itself from the post-war democraticsystem and become a normal country, which finally can enable its transfer from aneconomic power to a political power. The achievement of these political objects mustrest on the U.S. support and the alliance cornerstone.Economically, years between the1990s and the first decade of the21st century isthe missing20years for Japan. Even today, Japan is far from getting out of economicstagnation. Furthermore, the international financial crisis and the3.11Earthquakebring more calamities to Japan’s economy. Besides, Japan falls short of driving forcebehind economic development, owing to its low birthrate and aging population. Theseeconomic factors also affect political fronts in that they compel Japan even closer tothe United States.From the security front, Japan has troubles with several of its major neighboringpowers, especially, the territorial disputes with China, Russia, and South Korea, whichare beyond its own capacity to deal with. In recent years, the Korean Peninsula is alsounstable, posing security threat to Japan. In face of such circumstances, Japan has noway out but to strengthen its alliance with the United States, thus making goodpreparations for occasional incidents in the future.As Japan’s close neighbor, its tendency to develop military power by dint of thealliance system deserves our attention and alertness.