After reading last week¡¯s column on the modernization of command and control in Japan¡¯s military and the resulting need for a similar updating of the Japan-U.S. alliance, professor Ellis Krauss, one of the grand old men of Japan studies in the U.S, emailed, wondering if Japanese politicians had gotten the memo.
¡°What if Japanese political authorities don¡¯t want the Self-Defense Forces to get involved even though they¡¯re willing to have the U.S. use bases in Japan?¡± he inquired. ¡°If the Japanese government can¡¯t decide or won¡¯t, how does Joint Command work in that case?¡±
Last week¡¯s article nibbled at the question, noting Japan¡¯s insistence on the retention of separate ¡ª and independent ¡ª command authorities even as the two countries set up a more joint structure. Krauss is right to hammer home the point that the ultimate success of this project depends as much, if not more, on will as capability.
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