Nation Case Study II- Japan by Patrick Rafferty and Joe Lehmann

Overview Growing world power Increased international relations Constantly getting new leaders Peoples’ lives are changing

International Relations As one of the oldest countries in the known world, Japan has made connections with other countries whether it be through business and trade or war.

International Relations- Part 2 After the First Opium War in the nineteenth century, China was utterly defeated by Great Britain and Japan was held under occupation by the United States Navy Japan began adopting Western Imperialism views and made plans to create their own Empire

International Relations- Part 3 With this new ideology, Japan began fighting for control of territories, including Formosa (Taiwan), Korea, and the Senkaku Islands, leading to war with China

International Relations- Part 4 Despite years of fighting, the Japanese government sympathized with Chinese Revolutionists in 1911 Revolution However, peace between Japan and China did not last as Japan launched an assault in 1937, beginning the Second Sino-Japanese War

International Relations- Part 5 The Second Sino-Japanese War lead the Japanese military to commit many war crimes, the largest being The Rape of Nanking, where millions of Chinese were pillaged, raped, and killed

International Relations- Part 6 Japan became an ally to the Axis Powers (Germany and Italy) and attacked the U.S. navy base in Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941, beginning America’s involvement into World War II Japan was defeated in the Pacific War through ‘island-hopping’ and the dropping of the Atomic Bombs

International Relations- Part 7 After the war, the United States was very interested in rebuilding Japan Japan adopted a constitutional democracy and agreed to let the U.S. build a naval base on Okinawa because of the Cold War in Asia Japan requested to rebuild its military again, but U.S. created in it’s place a Self-Defense Force

International Relations- Part 8 During the 1970’s, Japanese businesses wanted to open trade with China, but Eisaku Sato (J.P.M. at the time) was worried about breaking the U.S.’s policy with China and shot it down However, Nixon visited China a year later to talk peace The year after that, Japan opened trade routes with China

International Relations- Part 9 In 1973, Japan and Vietnam opened trade routes and have since then became great economic partners in the market

International Relations- Part 10 South Korean people repeatedly wants repercussions for war crimes during WWII when Korean men were forced into war factories and women into sex slaves Courts are in favor of Japanese businesses because of an agreement in 1965 for wartime reparations between Japan and South Korea, not for individual cases

International Relations- Part 11 In 2015, Japan issued a grant for $5 million to the Columbia University in New York for a program of Asian political and foreign policies. The reason of this is “There is a fear of Japan losing out in an information war with South Korea and China and that we must catch up” says Kan Kimura, a political professor in Kobe University

International Relations- Part 12 When the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami struck Japan, there was a massive relief effort brought by many countries around the world, possibly due to the large number of alliances

Naoto Kan – PM of Japan 2010-2011 Democratic Party of Japan Large disappointment especially after nuclear disaster Failed coalition partnership Ratings reached as low as 15.8%

Shinzo Abe – current PM of Japan Liberal Democrat Party Replaced Kan Bold macroeconomics and policies – Abenomics Boost structure and trade Constitutional change Article 9 – building defense

Japan’s Human Rights Following the tsunami, supplies have been running low for the victims Should Japan’s leaders not be able to act for more supplies, then the death toll would continue to rise and the political system would be danger following other problems, says Michael Auslin of the Wall Street Journal

Japan’s Human Rights Another large problem facing Japan is the dwindling demographic population and fertility rate, leading to fewer men in the military as Japan had already sent 600 men to fight in the Iraq War Should this continue, then an independent nuclear deterrent may be called for by the people, as reported by William Choong of The Straits Times