Japan’s Antimilitarism Ecosystem: From Birth to Death

This talk challenges the conventional "normal nation" narrative in international relations scholarship by explaining why Japan has not remilitarized despite a volatile international context. I argue poor demographics, technological constraints, political restraints, and antimilitarism rules create a material and ideational ecosystem that binds attempts to significantly strengthen the Japan Self-Defense Forces.

Tom Le is Associate Professor of Politics at Pomona College. His research interests include Japanese security policy, the US-Japan alliance, war memory and reconciliation, smart cities and demographics and security. He is author of Japan’s Aging Peace: Pacifism and Militarism in the Twenty-First Century (Columbia University Press, 2021). 

Light lunch will be served.