The Politics of Japanese Nuclear Disarmament: Where Government Policies and Civil Society Converge and Diverge

This chapter’s principal objective is to analyze the common and contrasting approaches to nuclear disarmament that have existed between the government of Japan and the nation’s disarmament organizations during recent years. However, there is some attention given to the origins and development of the Japanese anti-nuclear weapons movement. Relying on interviews with key members of Japan’s anti-nuclear weapons organizations, literature from some of these groups, as well as personal communication and interviews with Japanese officials and published material from the government, this chapter demonstrates that despite the common objective of abolishing nuclear arms, there is no unanimity about how Japan should proceed on the path to nuclear disarmament. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.