Article Nine of the Japanese Constitution and security policy: realism versus idealism in Japan since the Second World War

Abstract This article explores how changes in both the international environment and domestic politics have influenced defence policy and debates on constitutional revision in Japan since the Second World War. Idealism in security policy was institutionalised in Article Nine of the Constitution of 1947 and an idealism-versus-realism schism was entrenched in the political arena during the 1950s. Japan developed its own defence capability from the 1960s, however, and the disjunction between constitutional limits on security policy and changes in the international environment became apparent in the 1990s, which in combination with domestic political changes led to the ‘sudden death’ of idealism. Despite the new political landscape, however, and the changed international situation, the gap between the unrevised Constitution and the reality of Japan's security remain critical.