Japan's Security Research Articles

Neoliberal Globalization, Human Trafficking, and Human Security in Japan

The issues of human trafficking and human security have been inadequately addressed in the study of political economy. How and whose human security could be assessed when considering political economy of human trafficking? This paper investigates this question, especially how contemporary globalization causes human exploitation that exacerbates human insecurity. Trafficking is a global phenomenon, the origin of which could be found in the global capitalist system. This paper examines human trafficking against the backdrop of this system that is enhanced by neoliberal globalization. While debate on prostitution, migration, criminal approach, and human rights has been at the center of anti-trafficking literature and policy initiatives in Asia, the paper argues that human trafficking is the result of human insecurity and vice versa, which could be better explained through global political economy, particularly in Japan.

Where will Japan's security policy go after the change of administrations in Tokyo and Washington?

Where will Japan's security policy go after the change of administrations in Tokyo and Washington?

War memories and Japanese citizens’ views toward the self-defense forces

ABSTRACT War memories among the Japanese have played a critical role in shaping their perceptions of peace, providing various opportunities where they can learn about World War II. In spite of their critical importance in Japanese society, very few studies have systematically examined how war memories influence Japanese citizens' views toward defense issues. The present research addresses the gap in the literature. More specifically, this study examines how exposures to war memories shape Japanese citizens' opinions of the Self-Defense Forces (SDF). Building upon the implications from studies on peace education and international relations, I hypothesize that exposures to war memories enhance Japanese citizens' support for the SDF's “reassurance” Strategy, which emphasizes a more conciliatory stance in the world. Results of the statistical analysis relying on the survey data in Japan verify the validity of this hypothesis. By dissecting the process through which Japanese citizens develop their opinions about defense policy, this study significantly advances our understanding of the relationship between peace education and international relations, thus providing critical implications that are highly useful in understanding Japan's security culture.

Reexamining Threat Perception in Early Cold War Japan

This article discusses whether Japanese military and political elites perceived the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China (PRC) as threats during the Cold War. Realist scholars have argued that Japan's security alliance with the United States and the global balance of power were such that most Japanese officials did not perceive either of the Communist giants as a serious military threat. Reaching a similar conclusion but for starkly different reasons, constructivist scholars have argued that cultural, normative, and identity factors explain why Japanese elites did not perceive the Soviet Union or China as militarily threatening. Neither of these arguments holds up. Archival data and oral history collections from Japan's Self-Defense Force and National Diet Library reveal that Japan's defense establishment and political leaders perceived both the Soviet Union and the PRC as extremely threatening and that these perceptions fluctuated in intensity over time, across sectors, and among actors. Psychological factors, including affect, behavioral tendencies, and cognitive beliefs (the ABC model), may better explain why Japanese judged the intensity and source of perceived threats in the manner that they did. These findings underscore why threat perception in the international system is best evaluated by aggregating individual judgments and their distribution among larger groups.

사이버 보안 체계와 전망: 미국, 영국, 일본, 한국을 중심으로

The purpose of this study began to discuss Korea"s national cybersecurity system after the 1.25 Great Depression, but still the laws and government organizations related to cybersecurity are responding individually. Therefore, it is to examine the national cybersecurity response system of Japan, which is ahead of us in the U.S., the U.K., and Asia, the major advanced countries in cybersecurity, and suggest suggestions and improvement measures for the domestic cybersecurity system. This research was conducted based on the analysis of the Cybersecurity Developed Countries Analysis Report and the Cybersecurity-related Journal published by domestic organizations. We looked at the Global Cybersecurity Index(GCI) issued annually by the ITU to look at advanced countries in cybersecurity. The first and second most advanced countries in cyber security in GCI and Japan, which has a higher level of cyber security than Korea in Asia, were selected for comparison. We compared and analyzed the major roles of government organizations and departments related to cybersecurity with Korea. Through this, I wanted to present the cyber security-related system that Korea needs to move forward and the four implications that need to be developed. According to the results of comparative analysis, this study confirmed that there are problems such as the inability to establish a system of cyber security due to the lack of unified cyber security laws and control towers in Korea compared to the major advanced countries in cyber security. In addition, this study confirmed that information security and cyber security functions are caused by distribution to various ministries.

The development of climate security discourse in Japan

As the level of understanding about climate change has increased, the term “climate security” has been increasingly used in the rapidly growing literature on this subject. Although Japan has officially acknowledged the importance of tackling climate change, discussion of climate security has been almost nonexistent among Japanese governmental officials, politicians, and academics. Our aim was to trace discourses related to climate security in Japan to determine why so little exists in Japan and whether or not such discourse could suggest new areas for consideration to more comprehensively respond to the climate change problem. Because of different interpretations and uses of the term “climate security” in the existing literature, we first categorized existing approaches to climate security into four types and used this categorization to examine Japan’s discourse from these perspectives. Two of the approaches, namely “long-term irreversible planetary changes” and “short-term abrupt risks to individuals”, had been considered in Japan previously but without specific reference to the term climate security. The other two, “cause of conflict and violence” and “impacts to military and defense organizations”, however, had not been used and need to be included in discussions of climate change in Japan. Some of the topics not discussed in Japan include indirect economic losses of Japanese industries via supply chains, loss of Japan’s exclusive economic zone due to sea-level rise, and the potential inflow of refugees resulting from extreme weather patterns outside of Japan.

Fearful states: the migration-security nexus in Northeast Asia

How does the notion of state security inform national approaches to managing cross-border in-migration in the increasingly interconnected but volatile Northeast Asian region? This paper explores this question by focusing on the intermestic politics of labor importation. Specifically, it theorizes the multidimensionality and multifunctionality of security fears that inform Japan’s and Taiwan’s approaches to the admission of low-skilled foreign workers. The paper proposes a comprehensive conceptual framework that explicates these relationships and argues that Northeast Asian labor importation regimes were formed at the intersection of a threefold logic of state security. Whereas economic security acted as an enabling (inclusionary) factor in both Japan and Taiwan and motivated the acceptance of foreign workers, internal security in Japan and external security in Taiwan acted as constraining (exclusionary) factors, which directly and distinctively conditioned the resulting policies. Moreover, ever since their inception in the immediate aftermath of the Cold War, the divergent policy regimes have been interlocked in these economic-internal and economic-external dynamics of state security.

Proactive pacifism in Japan: critic analysis of Sh.Abe’s new policy

The scope of the article is to examine the concept of proactive pacifism in the context of an ongoing shift in Japan security. During the research the main pacifist principles will be analysed and Sh.Abe’s new policy will be evaluated.

New horizons in EU-Japan security cooperation.

Alongside the EU–Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), a Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA) between the EU and Japan entered into force in 2019. Whereas the EPA enshrines the existing interconnectedness between the Japanese and European economies, the SPA remains more aspirational. With an emphasis on shared norms and values and recognising an increasingly hostile external environment, the EU and Japan are seeking to deepen and broaden their security cooperation. For the period 1990–2017, EU–Japan security cooperation is mapped for a broad range of security domains. During this period, cooperation has increased notably in domains such as economic security, cyber-security and civil protection. In other areas, such as military, regional, energy and human security as well as terrorism, the scope of cooperation lags behind. Looking forward, the SPA not only reflects a renewed interest and level of ambition in the EU and Japan but also provides them with a platform to extend security cooperation to address their global and regional challenges.

China's Military and Paramilitary Activities in the East China Sea: Trends and Assessments for the U.S.-Japan Alliance

executive summary: This essay examines China's paramilitary and military activities in the East China Sea, draws implications for the security of Japan and the broader region, and assesses crisis scenarios in the troubled waters around the Senkaku Islands and Taiwan. main argumentAssessments of China's paramilitary and military activities in the East China Sea indicate that Beijing is less likely to seek to physically seize the Senkaku Islands in the near future. The China Coast Guard's daily presence in the vicinity of the islands and occasional intrusions into Japan's territorial waters ably demonstrate Beijing's opposition to Japanese control of the Senkaku Islands. Such displays of opposition appeal to the Chinese people. However, should Taiwan eventually be reunified with mainland through either peaceful or coercive means, the Senkaku Islands would remain a "lost territory." Furthermore, reunification would shift the military balance in the East China Sea dramatically in favor China. In such a scenario, armed conflict over the Senkaku Islands would become more likely. policy implications • Tokyo and Washington should begin bilateral planning for Taiwan contingency scenarios based on the 2015 U.S.-Japan defense guidelines. Without sufficient joint planning, the two allies will be at a disadvantage to respond to such a scenario. • Given China's massive theater missile capabilities, Tokyo and Washington need to fill the missile gap in the Pacific by co-developing intermediate-range missiles and deploying these in Japanese territory. • There is a need to further integrate Japanese and U.S. forces. The former is a resident force, while the latter is an expeditionary force, and Beijing could exploit this gap by a fait accompli in Taiwan or the Senkaku Islands. To avoid this scenario, Tokyo and Washington should establish a Standing Bilateral Joint Task Force in Japan's southwestern region with multi-domain operational capabilities.

ОПЫТ СОВЕРШЕНСТВОВАНИЯ ЭКОНОМИЧЕСКОЙ БЕЗОПАСНОСТИ ЯПОНИИ В ПЕРИОД 1950–1970-х гг. НА ОСНОВЕ ПОСТРОЕНИЯ НОВОЙ ЭФФЕКТИВНОЙ ЭКОНОМИЧЕСКОЙ МОДЕЛИ

The author chose as a subject of the research and analysis the causes and conditions that led to constructing a new Japanese economic model, which provided the annual growth in the country’s economy in the 1950-1970s. The goal was to find out what progressive movements in the economic sphere allowed the country to ensure high economic security of the state through the revival of the economic sector and to receive the status of the second world economy after the United States at the end of the last century. The study showed that in order to strengthen the economic security of the country, in accordance with the first “Five-Year Plan of Economic Independence” published in 1955, the Japanese government was primarily engaged in the reconstruction of existing production facilities, and only then began to create new ones. In addition, the state was engaged in the active acquisition of patents, technologies, and original inventions. Against the background of favorable external conditions, the economic growth that provided the highest labor productivity in the country, which in Japan was significantly higher than the global average rate, did not stop. The country quickly joined the world scientific and technological race and began to produce some of the most attractive and high-quality goods on the international market. As a result of the formed economic policy, Japan was able to enter the world market of goods and services, having a wide variety of products - from electrical goods to highly equipped cars and ships. The author’s vision of improving the economic security of Japan in the 1950-1970s based on the construction of a new effective economic model is a novelty. The practical significance of the study consists in the possibility of using Japanese experience for improving the economic security of the Russian Federation.

The Empirical Analysis of Nexus for Water-Energy-Food to Sustainable Development

Purpose– The purpose of this study was to analyze the Water-Energy-Food(WEF) Nexus of Korea, China, and Japan in order to sustainable development. Design/methodology/approach–This study investigates water security, energy security, and food security of Korea, China, and Japan from 2000 to 2017. Based on augmented production function model and environmental Kuznets hypothesis, this study constructs the simultaneous equation, fixed effect model, sustainable development index, and Granger causality. Findings–First, principal component analysis was conducted to secure the representativeness of food security index and food security, water security index were also representative in deriving the sustainable development index. Second, the U-shaped relationship between economic growth and food security was analyzed in three countries: Korea, China, and Japan through the simultaneous equation of WEF Nexus. Third, in the future, Japan was analyzed to have a relatively larger decrease in the sustainable development index than China and Korea. Fourth, in the case of China, the WEF nexus relationship has a bilateral causal relationship between WEFs, and the bilateral causal relationship between water security and energy security in Korea and food security and water security in Japan. Research implications or Originality–Therefore, we need to strengthen the management of WEF Nexus and cooperate with policies and various stakeholders such as government and private institutions.

Consideration of issues and countermeasures to acquire core human resources through vocational education to improve local information security in Japan

In Japan, information security specialists are concentrated in urban areas, and there is a shortage of these specialists in other regions. The goal of this paper is to propose a concrete vocational education system for adults who will increase the number of cyber security personnel in local areas. It was hypothesized that in order to increase information security personnel in local areas, and it would be effective to re-employ retired self-defense officers with information security skills as information security managers for local governments through vocational education. It was examined previous cases to verify the hypothesis. At first, in order to prove that the information security field has an advantage in re-employment for retired self-defense officers, I investigated the status of ecosystems where US veterans are re-employed as information security employees in private company. Next, in order to prove that the vocational education for the retired self-defense officers is effective, I investigated the case of re-employment in local government disaster prevention relations as a precedent example of the retirement self-defense officers re-employed through the vocational education. Based on the aforementioned situation, measures are proposed to utilize retired self-defense officers with information security skills as information security managers for local governments through vocational education. Implementing appropriate vocational education for re-employment of these officers in the information security field could be potentially effective in reducing the shortage of human resources in this field in local governments and increase the level of information security in local areas.

Nakasone Yasuhiro’s “Autonomous Defense” and the Security of Japan

Former Prime Minister of Japan Nakasone Yasuhiro advocated autonomous defense throughout the post-WWII period. Nakasone’s concept of autonomous defense (jishu boei) went beyond the idea of enhancing national defense capabilities—it was accompanied by a rich and varied internationalism that strove toward assuaging neighboring countries’ concerns toward Japan’s remilitarization. Nakasone also actively engaged major western powers in the global debate over nuclear issues during his term as prime minister, and it went beyond the confines of Japan’s bilateral security relationship with the United States. Thus, Nakasone’s autonomous defense concept reflected both the development of postwar Japan and the many turbulent changes in the postwar global security landscape. This essay follows the evolution of Nakasone’s autonomous defense concept during his political career from 1950 to the end of his premiership in 1988 and concludes with an overall assessment of his initiatives regarding Japanese security.

The South China Sea dispute: Will it impact Japan's security policy?

ABSTRACT Japan is heavily dependent on the Sea Lanes of Communications (SLOCs) of the South China Sea for its external trade including the critical energy imports from the Persian Gulf region. Any kind of instability or disruption over the contested waters will have an adverse effect on Japan's trade and economy. The increasingly assertive actions of Beijing, especially the military buildup have raised concerns in Tokyo as it might eventually lead to the strategic control of the SLOCs. Thus, developments in the South China Sea are a major reason why Japan has brought about several changes to its defence and security policies. This paper will explore how Chinese assertions in the South China Sea have encouraged Japan to steadily revise its security policies in a more fundamental way since the end of World War II.

Forms of Social Security Services for Filipino Workers in Japan: Implications to Migrant Labor Policy and Practices

The rapid economic development of Japan between the 1970s and 1980s attracted millions of migrant workers from third world countries. On the other hand, the dwindling and aging Japanese population necessitates migrant labor. These two are the reasons why the Japan Social Security services for workers had to be restructured. This study examined the labor policies and practices of Social Security services available to Filipinos in Japan. It analyzed how this can enhance the living and work conditions of Filipino workers in Japan, at the same time benefit Japan as a migrant labor receiving country. Descriptive research methods of survey, interview and document analysis were employed. Triangulation of results was conducted to verify and compare the data gathered from different sources. This study found that the Social Security services that are highly availed of by Filipinos are medical assistance, pension or retirement allowance, access to general hospitals, clinics with out-patient services, dental clinics, training for employed workers, National Health Insurance, and food safety provisions. Those services that have low access should be given attention through awareness campaign, online dissemination and orientation in Filipino language. This includes (a) Social Welfare: Housing assistance, Support to the balance between work and family life, In-house child-care facilities, Short-time work options, Minimum living expense, Flexible working styles; (b) Employment security: Employment Counseling, and Career development promotion subsidy; (c) Employees Insurance: Pharmaceutical and Medical devices; and (d) Policies on radioactive materials, poison and contaminants in food. By virtue of their membership to the Social Security system, they are able to avail the services for foreign workers. Social Security in Japan enhances the living and work conditions of Filipino workers and enables them to save and invest the money that otherwise would be spent for health and other necessities. Providing effective Social Security to migrant workers also benefits Japan as a migrant worker receiving country. Japan’s strong Social Security system that can be availed by registered migrant workers, including Filipinos, is a model to other Asian countries that receive migrant workers. This is not only because the services that are enjoyed by the Japanese workers are likewise enjoyed by migrant workers but more importantly, they respond to the needs of workers, enhance their living and work conditions at the same time, contribute to the socio-economic development of Japan by filling in the need for laborers in different industries. Since not all Filipinos in Japan are aware of the Social Security services and how they can be availed of, it is recommended that information dissemination be done electronically, through the community or their workplace, in both English and Filipino. The 2017 Agreement between the governments of Japan and the Philippines can be expanded to include Social Security and protection of low-skilled workers such as domestic workers and Filipino residents who are not working because of family duties and age. The Japanese government can allow conversion of the visa of Technical Intern Training Program (TITP) trainees to Residence Status of Specified Skilled Workers and as such, will have Social Security benefits which is a way of motivating them to work with efficiency and excellence. A program can be initiated by the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) to legalize the status of the productive workers who are undocumented or irregular Filipinos in Japan so as to add to the labor sector of Japan and secure the employment of Filipinos who are already in Japan. Finally, monitoring of the availability of Social Security can be undertaken by the government of both Japan and Philippines to make sure that the services are implemented by the designated government agencies.

Suspect AI: Vibraimage, Emotion Recognition Technology, and Algorithmic Opacity

Vibraimage is a digital system that quantifies a subject’s mental and emotional state by analysing video footage of the movements of their head. Vibraimage is used by police, nuclear power station operators, airport security and psychiatrists in Russia, China, Japan and South Korea, and has been deployed at an Olympic Games, FIFA World Cup, and G7 Summit. Yet there is no reliable evidence that the technology is actually effective; indeed, many claims made about its effects seem unprovable. What exactly does vibraimage measure, and how has it acquired the power to penetrate the highest profile and most sensitive security infrastructure across Russia and Asia? I first trace the development of the emotion recognition industry, before examining attempts by vibraimage’s developers and affiliates scientifically to legitimate the technology, concluding that the disciplining power and corporate value of vibraimage is generated through its very opacity, in contrast to increasing demands across the social sciences for transparency. I propose the term ‘suspect AI’ to describe the growing number of systems like vibraimage that algorithmically classify suspects / non-suspects, yet are themselves deeply suspect. Popularising this term may help resist such technologies’ reductivist approaches to ‘reading’ – and exerting authority over – emotion, intentionality and agency.

The Autonomy‒Alignment Trade‐Off: Japan’s Evolving Defense Posture

Tokyo’s defense doctrine and behavior have undergone a number of significant shifts under the Abe administration. These have occurred against the backdrop of declining U.S. power in Asia and, more recently, the Trump administration’s idiosyncratic “America First” policy. These developments thus raise questions about Tokyo’s strategic orientation and the continued durability of the U.S.‐Japan alliance. Is Tokyo hedging against possible U.S. strategic abandonment of Japan and shifting toward a more independent defense posture? Drawing on interviews with government officials in 2019, it is argued here that the recent evolution of Japan’s defense policy has instead been premised on the continuation of the alliance as the core of its national security strategy. The U.S.‐Japan security relationship has therefore been conducted primarily under the framework of traditional alliance management.

Nuclear governmentality: Governing nuclear security and radiation risk in post-Fukushima Japan

Nuclear governmentality is offered as a conceptual contribution to research on energy politics, security studies, and nuclearity. Nuclear governmentality is conceived as a logic of government in the Foucauldian sense, that describes contiguities in conduct and symbolic representations found across disparate dispositifs, especially (albeit not exclusively) those strategically aimed at eliciting and exploiting atomic forces in medicine, industry, and war. This project demonstrates the logic and technologies of power specific to nuclear governmentality in post-Fukushima Daiichi energy commitments, evacuation policies, risk assessments, and health surveillance programs. Nuclear governmentality is at once modern in its adaptation of regimes of risk management and anachronistic in its prioritization of sovereign decisionality in their developments and deployments, especially evident in the legal principle of the minimum standard and the instrument of the permissible dose.

It’s time to think boldly about Canada–Japan security cooperation

Policy-makers, scholars, and commentators regularly remark upon the unrealized potential of Canada–Japan cooperation, but neither country has taken decisive steps to address it. This reticence is especially noticeable in the security realm. As friendly, like-minded countries with common values, a common vision of international order, and strongly shared security interests in an increasingly tumultuous world, Canada and Japan would be expected to strengthen security ties in meaningful ways. Recent (relatively minor) steps in this direction are welcome. But the time is ripe for the two countries to cement their security partnership through a series of bolder measures ultimately leading to formal alliance.