TWQ: The Anatomy of Japan’s Shifting Security Orientation - Fall 2010

On June 2, 2010, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama’s farewell address included the parting shot that ‘‘I do not believe it is a good idea for Japan to depend on the United States for her security over the next 50 or 100 years.’’ One could dismiss this as typical Hatoyama, who has repeatedly insisted that Japan should try to establish an ‘‘equal relationship’’ with the United States. Yet, it is not just one leader, but Japan itself that has been asking: can we survive as a responsible stakeholder in the twenty-first century given the status quo?

Tsuyoshi Sunohara