japans economic approach after WW2 (japan emphasized economic development over military)
The United States' focus on the Cold War allowed Japan to pursue its own economic and bureaucratic policies while benefiting from American security and open markets.
Japan’s developmentalist policies, often credited to its bureaucratic leadership, were also largely enabled by the international conditions of the Cold War. The U.S. permitted Japan to diverge from liberal economic norms, seeing its growth as crucial to American geopolitical interests. This favorable global environment allowed Japan to thrive and shape its domestic institutions to fit within the broader Cold War order.
realist
The U.S. tolerated Japan’s mercantilist policies and economic protectionism not because of shared norms or ideas, but because it served its strategic interests during the Cold War. Japan’s rise was not just due to internal bureaucratic brilliance, but because the international power structure—shaped by U.S. security concerns—allowed it to happen.
The U.S. supported Japan not out of ideological alignment, but to prevent Soviet expansion, which is a power-driven rationale rather than a norm-based one.
Nuclear Weapons
Japan saw that China had tested nuclear weapons on Octover 1964, and Japan felt that they should have nuclear weapons too because Chinese communists had them, but majority of Japanese were dead set against the possession of nuclear weapons
Lest the principles be regarded as unconditional, Satō clarified matters in a Diet speech in 1968. He outlined the four pillars of Japan’s nonnuclear policy: (1) reliance on the U.S. umbrella; (2) the three nonnuclear principles; (3) promotion of worldwide disarmament; and (4) development of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.