Is Japan sovereign?
15/10/2024
In November 2023, the Japanese authorities waited for Washington's official announcement, only to decide three days later to confirm that a US Army V-22 Osprey had indeed crashed on their soil.
This episode alone illustrates the extent of Japan's vassalage to the United States. A vassalage born at the end of the Second World War when, after its defeat, the country experienced seven years of American occupation. It was the order of things for an occupied country to submit to the will of its occupier. It was less so that Japan continued to do so after being freed from occupation by its victor in the 1951 Treaty of San Francisco. A "liberation" nevertheless closely supervised by the Americans. Of course, Japan has been an independent and sovereign country since 1951.
Yet, with all due respect to this sovereignty, one can't help but wonder why Japan :
- Does it allow more than 10% of its airspace to be controlled by the US military and denied access to its own citizens?
- Does it place the 50,000 American soldiers stationed on its soil above the laws of the land, so to speak?
- Does he tolerate the fact that so many post-war Japanese leaders had their political lives cut short for opposing Washington's will, for one reason or another?
- Does he accept (as even a former prime minister has admitted) that the authority of the head of government is subordinate to that of an obscure "Japanese-American Joint Committee" in the running of the country?
- Does it refuse, despite having been a victim of nuclear weapons and being at the forefront of the fight against their use, to sign the Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty (NWT), which came into force in 2021, but to which the United States has not acceded (and which only 73 States have ratified as of January 16, 2024)?
A sovereign country whose airspace is controlled by an outside power.
It should be remembered that Japan hosts some 80 bases and over 50,000 American troops on its soil. Of all the United States' strategic allies, it is the only one to grant near-total extraterritoriality to these bases, their personnel and the airspace surrounding them. The most important of these airspaces, controlled by the US military and excluding all civilian air traffic, is that around the Yokota base.
The base itself covers an area of 7 km2, but its airspace for the exclusive use of US forces effectively extends over 39,000 km2 up to an altitude of 7,000 m, even encroaching on part of the skies over Tokyo, the capital. Civil aviation pilots, banned from flying over this exclusively American zone, have to resort to costly detours and acrobatic maneuvers to reach Tokyo-Haneda International Airport.
The Japanese authorities are not allowed to design new air corridors leading to the capital's airport, as these would touch on this sanctuarized area. Nagano (where the author lives), located 300 km from Tokyo, cannot have an air link with the capital, as the obligation for civil aircraft to bypass the gigantic "Yokota airspace" makes this route unprofitable.
The vassalization of Japan: a historical review.
In 1945, defeated Japan was occupied by the United States. The first task of the occupying power, headed by General Douglas MacArthur, was to try and convict the empire's civilian and military ruling class, and to purge its civil service on a massive scale. All this while exonerating Emperor Hirohito - though supreme commander of the Army and Navy and Imperial Headquarters - of any responsibility for Japan's war of aggression.
The Americans won the hearts of Japan's hitherto fiercely anti-American population by exporting their liberal democracy to a country accustomed to militaristic autocracy in the decades leading up to the Second World War. Inspired by the Bismarckian model, the 1889 constitution of the Empire of Japan was abolished by the Americans, to be replaced by another, partly copied from the American one, founded on the principles of popular sovereignty, respect for fundamental human rights... and the promotion of pacifism.
The democratic and liberal transformation of the country brought about by this new constitution, which did not exclude the still venerated emperor, was well received by the Japanese population. This led to a spectacular turnaround in the population's support for yesterday's enemy. From one day to the next, the first foreign occupiers in its history were welcomed by the population as liberators.
It goes without saying that the post-war Japanese authorities, starting with the Emperor, were entirely at the orders of General MacArthur, Japan's new master. This relative ease with which the Japanese adapted to yesterday's enemy is rooted in the way Japan modernized in the 19th century, drawing inspiration from the Western model ( Cf. Is Japan Asian?" by the author, published in the May 2024 issue of Nouveaux Regards sur l'Asie. ). Elle explique par ailleurs comment les Japonais se sont accommodés sans trop de mal à la soumission de leur pays à l’Amérique.
It was during this period of American occupation that the custom of "worrying about Washington's will before making any important decisions" became a permanent feature of the country's ruling class. This was the beginning of Japan's "vassalage" to America. A new independence with conditions.
A new independence with conditions.
The Korean War (1950-1953) benefited occupied Japan, which enjoyed strong growth thanks to its role as a logistical base for American forces. The war also precipitated Washington's decision to make the archipelago a strategic ally in its efforts to stem the rise of communism (USSR, China, North Korea, Vietnam...) in this part of the world (Domino Theory).
America then moved quickly to restore Japan's independence under the 1951 Treaty of San Francisco, while taking steps to ensure that the country remained firmly under its control. Following the San Francisco Treaty, other secret agreements were signed to guarantee, among other things, the right of American forces to continue stationing themselves unhindered on Japanese soil. This can be seen as an extension of the American military occupation regime, albeit in a different form.
The U.S.-Japan Defense Advisory Board: Japan's true master.
To ensure that the now "sovereign" Japan did not overstep the bounds imposed by its former conqueror, a "Japan-US Defense Advisory Committee" has been based in a US-owned military hotel since 1952.
Represented on the American side are military officers and the No. 2 of the American Embassy, and on the Japanese side, senior officials from various ministries. The Committee, which is supposed to coordinate the day-to-day affairs of the US military in Japan, jealously guards the secrecy of its deliberations and decisions, and has been known to interfere in other areas of the archipelago's internal affairs.
Some Japanese sources even go so far as to suggest that senior Japanese officials attend these working meetings only to collect the "wishes" of the American side and have them implemented by their respective ministries, even if some of these "wishes" run counter to the provisions of the Japanese Constitution... From 2001 to 2009, Tokyo received an "annual letter" setting out what Washington "wished" to see reformed in certain Japanese regulations and legislation because they were deemed to be in the way of American economic interests. It is said that Prime Minister Hatoyama (2009-2010), who abolished this humiliating "annual American letter" system, admitted that it was when he became Prime Minister that he discovered that his authority as Prime Minister was subordinate to that of the Japanese-American Consultative Committee...
Mr. Hatoyama is said to have discovered to his dismay that the "Committee" was kept informed of all the things he said in private to his close associates! After attempting to relocate a major American base against Washington's wishes, Mr. Hatoyama's term of office came to an abrupt end after just eight months at the head of the government. Meanwhile, Japan has steadily slipped down the rankings of the world's major economic powers: from 2nd place at the end of the 1960s, the archipelago is now 4th and soon 5th. The multiple openings of the Japanese market (industry, labor, finance, postal services, etc.) forced by America have significantly weakened the archipelago's economy.
Whenever a Japanese high-tech industry became too efficient, it had to give way to its American competitors. The result was Japan's decline in the world market for high-tech industries (semiconductors, in particular).
The beneficial effects of vassalage.
Japan's position as a "vassal" of the United States was not all bad news for the archipelago. On the contrary, American military protection enabled Japan to live in peace and prosper in the seven decades following the world conflict.
When Japan regained its independence in 1952, the American occupiers imposed a "peaceful" constitution, Article 9 of which states: "The Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation, and the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes.
Despite the "peaceful" clauses of this Constitution, which forbid the possession of an army, Japan has nonetheless ensured that it has a "Self-Defense Force" that is no less powerful and modern. Since then, the United States has regretted that this peaceful constitution - which it dictated to the archipelago in the first place - has served as a pretext for Japan's rejection of its former conqueror's requests to take part in US-led wars in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. Although Tokyo is a staunch ally of the United States in regional crises involving China, Russia and North Korea, Japan's contribution to this alliance - constitutionally speaking - remains purely "defensive", much to Washington's dismay.
What's more, thanks to the perennial American military presence on its soil, which has enabled Japan to benefit from its ally's protection for its national defense, it has been able to concentrate all its national resources on its economic development. And this to the point of becoming an economic power and, ironically, a formidable competitor to the USA.
Resistance to American domination.
Even if the population, traditionally in favor of everything that comes from the West (and therefore from America), remains indifferent to its dependence on the USA, there have been Japanese leaders who have tried to oppose American desiderata.
The sudden disappearance of some of them from the Japanese political scene could be the consequence. As with the aforementioned Prime Minister Hatoyama, the Americans always have a way of bringing down anyone who gets too close to Communist China for their liking, and has refused Washington's request to open up the market.
Whenever a prime minister leaves office prematurely, we wonder what he could have done to incur the wrath of the Americans. Prime Minister Tanaka (1972-1974) was forced to resign and end his political life in the wake of the Lockheed scandal. He is also known to have incurred the wrath of Washington after his lightning visit to Beijing in 1972, which led (seven years before the Americans!) to the establishment of Sino-Japanese diplomatic relations.
Another example: even today, it is rumoured that Prime Minister Fukuda Yasuo (2007-2008) was forced to end his term as head of government because he did not bow to strong American pressure to take part in the war in Iraq. Even today, it is customary for every Prime Minister, as soon as he is elected by the Diet (Lower and Upper Houses) and appointed by the Emperor, to go to the White House as if to receive his blessing. A very recent example of Japan's subordination to the USA: Kishida Fumio, unpopular Prime Minister at the bottom of the polls, announced his decision to resign to the nation on August 14 only after having, according to the press, informed Washington in advance in order to be authorized to do so...
Conclusion
Japan is certainly a sovereign country, but in a very particular form. The Japanese are known for their docility towards the "Okami" (superior authority), and the Okami in this case is America. Questioning the Okami is frowned upon in Japanese society.
Subordination to the United States is not considered dishonorable, and is even readily accepted in a country where identification with the West has been at the very heart of the national mentality since the country's modernization in the mid-19th century. However, the beginnings of a change in this situation of subordination to America may have begun to take shape since September 28, with the election of Mr. Shigeru Ishiba as head of government. Known for his nationalist stance, the new Prime Minister has made no secret of his intention to renegotiate the bilateral agreement between Japan and the United States, which in certain respects is to Tokyo's detriment.
It remains to be seen whether Washington will agree to change this situation in the direction desired by the Japanese. One need only recall the unfortunate fate of Mr. Ishiba's predecessors, to think that the new Prime Minister will have a hard time making himself heard in Washington. Especially if the White House is once again occupied by Donald Trump.
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Born in 1947 in Taiwan, CHEN Yo-Jung grew up in Vietnam and Hong Kong. He completed his higher education in Japan, then served for 23 years at the French Embassy in Tokyo as press attaché and translator-interpreter.Naturalized as a French citizen in 1981, Chen Yo-Jung became a civil servant at the Quai d'Orsay in 1994. He served as deputy consul/press advisor in several French diplomatic and consular posts, including Tokyo, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Singapore and Beijing, before retiring to Japan in 2012.
