Paper short abstract:

This paper examines Japanese attitudes toward the enhancement of military cooperation with the US. Using the original online survey data, I show how the fears of being abandoned by and dragged into conflicts involving the US influences public support for the JSDF's involvement in US operations.

Paper long abstract:

This paper examines the determinants of Japanese attitudes toward the enhancement of military cooperation with the US. The role of Japan's self-defense forces (JSDF) in its cooperation with US troops has gradually expanded over years despite strong public discontent. Although previous studies have shown that citizens' concerns about being entrapped into conflicts involving the US constrained Japan's security policy strongly, empirical evidence is scarce, especially in quantitative investigations. Moreover, most previous studies focus on the Cold War era when Japan did not face substantive threats from its neighboring states and had little doubt about the alliance commitment of the US, while the past several decades saw the rise of tensions with China and the decline in US interventionism. To address the shortcomings of previous studies, using the original online survey data, I show how the fears of abandonment and entrapment exert influence on public support for the JSDF's involvement in US operations, including not only legally allowed activities such as providing logistic support to US troops but also legally prohibited ones such as fighting with US troops against the enemy. I also examine how Russian aggression in Ukraine and China's opportunistic stance are related to public support for the extended roles of the JSDF. This paper aims at contributing to the literature by showing that conditioned by threat perceptions, not only the fear of entrapment but also the fear of abandonment influence the level of public constraint on Japan's security policy.