US-Japan treaty has lasting impact
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Anger
Many in Japan, however, did not support the signing of the new pact. Nasashi Ishibashi, a prominent socialist of the time called the treaty a mechanism that made Japanese troops "a front line ... for American strategy."
His opinion was shared by many in Japan, and through 1960 there were protests throughout the nation. Notably, in June, a visit by President Dwight D. Eisenhower was canceled as Japanese action continued. Later in the month Kishi was forced from office amid amounting anger on the streets.
Kishi's downfall was seen by Sophia University professor William A. Laney as due to a "lack of solidarity and support" from within and outside his party in a 1967 article on the protests. After his resignation, however, the protesters were to build movements based upon their opposition to the U.S. treaty.
As the United States entered Vietnam, a movement was born that combined opposition to the U.S. troops based in Japan with anger directed at LDP policies. "In the following years, protests grew louder and angrier, as (U.S.) military campaigns escalated," according to notes of Evan Serpick in a 2007 Rolling Stone article.
Moving forward
Over the course of the 1970s, the protest movements waned and the alliance was strengthened as Japan enjoyed its economic " miracle."
The decline of the USSR in the early 1990s and Gulf War in 1991, however, saw the United States ask for more of its Asian ally. Japan, however, was reluctant to offer any forces to contribute to the effort against Saddam Hussein's Iraq, and instead offered 13 billion U.S. dollars in aid for the war effort, in a move that led to accusations of "checkbook diplomacy."
As the 1990s passed, Japanese opposition to U.S. troops grew, in particular after marines based in the southern prefecture of Okinawa kidnapped and raped a 12-year-old girl. From that time, opposition to the U.S.-Japan military alliance has persisted in Japan.
Today
The advent of a new century and the war on terrorism led by the United States brought about a decade in which Japan was to commit its first troops overseas since World War II, to contribute to U.S. -led efforts in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, after the government of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi pushed through laws permitting this amid opposition.
In 2009, however, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) was elected in a landslide promising to withdraw from a mission in the Indian Ocean and reassess U.S. Japan relations. Over the past few months, a debate over a treaty that will allow U.S. troops to remain in Okinawa over the coming years has exacerbated tension between the allies.
The tension, however, is nothing new and has been as much a feature of the alliance as cooperation. While debates may endure, it is likely the alliance will continue for years to come.
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