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The Diplomat (26 January 2021)

John Wright

In the twilight of his presidency, Dwight Eisenhower warned his country to be on the watch for the pitfalls of the military-industrial complex, an arms partnership between defense contractors and the military, born of World War II and fed by Cold War competition. While Eisenhower gave his famous speech in 1961, half a world away its friend Japan could only look on jealously — something Eisenhower was warning against was something Japan once had and wanted back. Now in 2021 Japan is closer to realizing the return of an export-driven arms industry than it has ever been in the post-Cold War world. This industry seeks to improve both Japan’s economic and diplomatic situation in the Indo-Pacific, and by extension serves to enhance the U.S.-Japan alliance’s position as well.

Historians and students of Japan are aware Japan once had a military-industrial complex of its own. After World War II, U.S. occupation authorities effectively and purposefully dismantled Japan’s military-industrial complex while pursuing its mantra of “demilitarization and democratization.” This necessarily included the gargantuan zaibatsu conglomerations responsible for much of its funding and manufacturing (though these organizations have since morphed into other roles and are still alive today). As early as 1947, Japan made rearmament a high priority. [...]

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