Cooperative Security, Arms Control and Disarmament Policy Brief No.110 - June, 2021 • By Yasuyoshi Komizo
Japan and the Nuclear Ban Treaty
Japan has made the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty the axis of its security policy, relying for much of its security on the extended deterrence of the United States. On the other hand, as the only nation to have suffered atomic bomb attacks in war, Japan has for many years taken the lead in proposing resolutions calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons. There is a considerable gap between reality and the ideal. Now, there is a new movement gathering momentum in the international community to seek international security without nuclear weapons and the TPNW has been adopted in this context. Japan would be well advised to recognise this trend as an important aspect of international reality, and examine its policy on that basis.