Japan and the US Presidential Election of 2008

Abstract

The aftermath of Japan’s capitulation in 1945 radically altered Japan’s place in the world as a Great Power. Following the US occupation (1945–1952), Japan recovered its independence. It did so, however, as a weak nation relying on American protection. America not only defended Japan against the communists during the Cold War, but also provided a security system that allowed Japan to establish normal economic relations with its Asian neighbors, which it had invaded or colonized in the preceding decades. Japanese dependence was not totally unilateral. The United States could not have waged the Cold War in Asia without access to its numerous bases in Japan. But overall, the relationship was profoundly unequal. The United States could exist without Japan, whereas Japan, at least in its post-1945 liberal democratic incarnation, could not remain free without the United States.