Different forces in one: the origin and development of organizational cultures in the Japanese Ground and Maritime Self-Defense Forces, 1950–present

Abstract

This article explains the processes in which the two SDFs’ organizational cultures were formed by examining the ways in which the two Self Defense Forces (SDFs) were established in the early 1950s and have interacted with their US counterparts since that time. The article argues that the reason that the Ground Self Defense Force (GSDF) has been so cautious about sending troops to overseas operations, whereas the Maritime Self Defense Force (MSDF) has been willing to provide any possible support for the US Navy (USN), is that they have developed different organizational cultures – different collective beliefs and understandings about how to contribute to the national interest that they defined – through their decades-long relations with their US counterparts since the early 1950s. It is especially important to consider what type of Japanese actors were in charge of establishing each of the two SDFs in the early 1950s, what intentions they had when they established the two SDFs, and what kind of relations they had with their US counterparts. It is also important to consider how the USAR and USN responded to the requests from their Japanese counterparts in the 1950s and 1960s.