As you probably know, a treaty between the USA and Japan some time ago stated that Japan could no longer have a military. Time has passed, and today, Japan and the United States get along wonderfully. There would be absolutely no threat of them attacking America. It'd be more likely for the moon to grow a giant horse head and fly into Jupiter. Japan has a threat from being attacked by North Korea, and if such a horrible event were to happen, I don't think the USA needs to step in for Japan. Surely they could assist in getting revenge, but I am certain Japan could have a good military that could prove to be a wonderful asset. Besides, Japanese cops apparently carry swords. Japanese soldiers would be ****ing awesome, then.
They do indeed have a military for self-defense purposes only. The thing is, I think the treaty was a little too complicated for us to just hand them offensive military power again. Lots of different countries were involved, and not only would it be unfair to other countries if we just gave Japan power (i.e. Germany) but I'm not sure it's up to just the United States alone. It probably would require permission from a number of the Allied powers from WWII. I haven't researched this at all, so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. Now, do I personally think they derserve an offensive military? ...I suppose, but really, there's no point to it unless they're planning on attacking someone else. They can defend themselves with their current military and that seems to be adequate. If they were attacked by N. Korea, they WOULD be able to defend themselves at least somewhat, though the US might send troops in to aid them.
Japan is a delicate situation. WWII happened with Japan because they wanted to not be so dependent on the outside world. One of the main reasons they invaded China. In Japan, there's few natural resources outside of the fishing industry. So it wasn't due to the Axis or third reich that mostly influenced their decision. There's other reasons, too, don't get me wrong. One of the major problems with WWII and Japan was the culture of Japan at that time. They believed in ritual suicide instead of being captured. And also believed in fighting until every last man was dead no matter how much they were outnumbered. One of the reasons the atom bombs were dropped was to avoid U.S. casualties and stop the whole country from either attacking us or killing themselves to avoid capture. Now, lets go to the present, 55 years after the bombs were dropped. Give or take a few months. Japan has gone to be one of the more advanced countries in the world. Instead of focusing on the honor ritual suicide, at least to the outside world, they focus on beating the crap out of us in business and other aspects. *they did a helluva job for a while, too* They also seem more open, the "Americanization" of Japan, though not nearly as big as it is in other countries shows that. I think honestly they have changed. At some point, yes, I think they will declare war on a country and try to invade it for either valid or not-so-valid reasons. But I think also they won't make the same mistakes they made in the past. Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a wake-up call for Japan, and it gave them a big one, they have the right for a military.
The SDF counts as a military, hell it even aids with international peacekeeping now as I understand it. So they're in the clear when it comes to having military power. They have as much as a rich, civilized island nation should have right now too. The goal of a military in a modernized country is to defend against those who have essentially not modernized and maintain the mentality of conquest in the name of nationalism and material gain. Agressors in this day and age primarily are either oppressive regimes like China's with Tibet or backwards powerhungry autocracies like in some Near East nations. A huge upset of the global economy might change this but for the time being Germany, Japan, the US and other like nations don't really need an offensive force at all and should only have a primarily defense minded military to help police the world essentially through an organization such as the UN. This probably sounds either idealistic or incomprehesible. I might go back and try to rectify at least one of those later.
Thats about right besides, Japan's defense or cops or whatever is very strict, if you murder someone you get killed. maybe the reason japan is safe is because of that enforcement besides i don't think anyone wants to mess with japan, i wouldn't believe me.
Don't get too thrilled about Japan's defense, from what I heard, women are still treated like third class citizens. *took international management and heard a lot about different countries* I could be wrong, but women at the least are treated differently. China's worse, but I'm going off in a tangent. I think honestly you always need a military. During WWII, we thought that we were invincible and would never get attacked. FDR saw a flaw in this plan and yes, he did want to join the war. you always have to be prepared for a fight, 9/11 and Pearl Harbor showed us that.
