Governing Insecurity in Japan ― The Domestic Discourse and Policy Response

Since the end of the Cold War, Japan's security environment has changed significantly. While the United States is still Japan's most important security partner, the nature of the partnership has changed as a result of new demands from the United States, but also due to new challenges for Japan such as the North Korean nuclear program and the rise of China. Moreover, the Japanese government and foreign policy establishment have been confronted with new, ‘non-traditional’ security threats such as international terrorism, the spread of infectious diseases, and global environmental threats. At the same time, on the domestic level, demographic change and the consequences of neo-liberal economic reforms in the first decade of the millennium as well as globalization challenge the sustainability of the current Japanese lifestyle and lead to a heightened sense of insecurity among many Japanese. This sense of insecurity finds its expression both in opinion polls and surveys and in public debate in politics, society and the media.

Focusing on the domestic Japanese discourse on security, this book expands the standard discussions on security that mostly focus on military security and security in international relations, and bring in perspectives from domestic security, economic and livelihood security as well as sociological discussions of risk and risk management. By doing so, the authors provide new insights into Japanese and international discourses on security as well as the ways in which security is conceptualized in Japan.

This book brings together a broad range of topics from traditional, military security to business perspectives on security, perceptions of insecurity in Japanese society and public debates on issues such as migration and food security.

Wilhelm Vosse is Professor in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the International Christian University, Japan.

Verena Blechinger-Talcott is Professor in the Department of Japanese Studies at Berlin Free University, Germany.

Reinhard Drifte is Emeritus Professor of Japanese Politics at Newcastle University, UK.