The Military Realignment Of Japan-U.S. Alliance And The Role And Status Of Japan’s Self Defense Forces

The Japan-U. S. alliance has been in changes and adjustment since its establishment. Due to its nature as a military alliance, each time the change expanded around the core of military adjustment, which constantly pushed the defense alliance cooperation into depth. Among all these military adjustments, the Japan-U. S. alliance military realignment, which started since the 21st century and are still ongoing, stands out with its deepest extent, widest range, and maximum impact. Generally, discussions on the Japan-U.S. alliance military realignment start from the analysis on the adjustment of U. S. Asia-Pacific strategy, while it should also be noticed that Japan’s military force --- the Japan’s Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) are continuing to develop and grow with an opportunity to the military realignment. Therefore, on the basis of analyzing the Japan-U. S. alliance military realignment, this paper will further study the changes of JSDF’s role and status in the military realignment from the perspective of its own development.The body part is divided into three sections:The first chapter, "Evolution of the Japan-US military cooperation and the role and status of the JSDF" clarifies the revised Japan-US security system during the Cold War and the establishment and initial development of the JSDF in this framework, as well as the Japan-U. S. Alliance "re-define" and the role and status of the JSDF after the Cold War from a historical perspective.The second chapter, "The Realignment of Japan-US military alliance in the new century" based on U.S. strategic adjustment is illustrated in two stages. Especially after the financial crisis, American "return to Asia" strategy implements the Japan-US military realignment. On the basic cases, this chapter will further explore the factors that promote and hinder realignment of Japan-US military alliance.The third chapter, " The role and status of the JSDF in the Japan-US alliance military realignment since the new century" standing on the Japanese point of view, the change from a military re-allocation of three aspects of the JSDF to demonstrate its role change continuously towards more autonomous, equal, comprehensive, in-depth direction, then gets more and more important status in the Japan-US alliance defense cooperation. Furthermore, this chapter discusses the difficulties that the JSDF will face in the future development.