Description: Creating Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force, 1945–2015
Creating Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force, 1945–2015
Worldcat Site
Creating Japan’s Ground Self-Defence Force, 1945-2015: A Sword Well Made is unique in the way it captures all of the major and minor players who took part in shattering and reforging the Sacred Sword that is Japan’s Ground Self Defense Force and puts all of that information into an all encompassing format…. This book has value for those who wish for more than just a Japanese perspective on the reconstruction of Japan after World War II and during the Cold War. The book is also valuable in the picture it paints of how difficult it truly is to create/recreate an army and all of the cultural and social nuances that are required to help its integration into society. This can be helpful to those wishing to gain further insights of the struggles undergone by during the reconstruction of Iraq and Afghanistan, both of which needed to completely rebuild their armies.
David Hunter-Chester
Lexington Books
Nov, 2016
9781498537902
143,081
History--Asia / JapanHistory--Military / General
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Chapters
Creating Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force, 1945–2015
Chapter 1 - Introduction
Creating Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force, 1945–2015
~Japan has one of the most storied warrior traditions in the world, embodied by such iconic figures as the samurai, the kamikaze pilot, and even the ninja. Warriors ruled Japan for over 800 years and members of the warrior...
David Hunter-Chester
Lexington Books
12,984

Creating Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force, 1945–2015
Chapter 2 - Disarmament and the Voices of Dissent
Creating Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force, 1945–2015
~Soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army loomed like supermen during the first six months after Pearl Harbor, “a solid wall of uniform strength that nothing could wear down and in which every soldier was an ideal fighting...
David Hunter-Chester
Lexington Books
18,901

Creating Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force, 1945–2015
Chapter 3 - Hot- and Cold-Running Wars and a Changing Consensus, 1946–1950
Creating Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force, 1945–2015
~Ashida was the first Japanese governmental official to articulate publicly an interpretation of war-renouncing Article 9 that allowed Japan to rearm for self-defense. Ashida was not as singular in his conception of the need for Japan to be able to defend itself as it might seem at first, either in Japan or the United States.
David Hunter-Chester
Lexington Books
7,200

Creating Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force, 1945–2015
Chapter 4 - Old Iron and New Steel, 1950–1952
Creating Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force, 1945–2015
~The Japanese sword is made with a core of iron, to give it strength, and a shell of steel, which can be sharpened into its cutting edge.~. Kanzan Satō, The Japanese Sword: A Complete Guide, trans. Joe Earle,...
David Hunter-Chester
Lexington Books
15,889

Creating Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force, 1945–2015
Chapter 5 - The GSDF Organized, 1952–1960
Creating Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force, 1945–2015
~America, as the occupying power, ordered Japan to disarm and Japan complied. The occupier then codified a renunciation of war and permanent disarmament in a new constitution, and the acting government elites in Japan ratified the document, though some elites, at least, felt the War Renunciation Article left some wriggle room to allow arming for...
David Hunter-Chester
Lexington Books
13,218

Creating Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force, 1945–2015
Chapter 6 - Sheathing the Blade, Polishing the Spirit
Creating Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force, 1945–2015
~The 1950s may have been the decade when a key part of Japan’s national identity, whether or not it would be a country possessing an army like other countries, was most energetically contested. Yet from the 1960s until the present, the contestation has continued. With the issue not completely...
David Hunter-Chester
Lexington Books
11,731

Creating Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force, 1945–2015
Chapter 7 - A Sword in the Storm, a Life-Giving Sword
Creating Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force, 1945–2015
~Despite Nakasone’s efforts the structures put in place and habits formed since the defeat militated against a more autonomous Japanese defense capability, and funneled efforts toward a policy emphasis on limitations; a focus on what Japan could not do, rather than on what Japan could or should do. The National Defense Program Outline, created...
David Hunter-Chester
Lexington Books
10,988

Creating Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force, 1945–2015
Chapter 8 - New Century, New Threats, New GSDF, 1996–2015
Creating Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force, 1945–2015
~The first half of the 1990s were a time of great change for Japan’s security policies, precipitated, at first by the so-called turning point (tenkanten)~. Christopher W. Hughes,...
David Hunter-Chester
Lexington Books
15,270

Creating Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force, 1945–2015
Chapter 9 - Drawing Weapons
Creating Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force, 1945–2015
~All cultures have heroes, and all cultures tell stories and present images of these heroes to entertain, extol or teach virtues like duty and courage and to explore themes like the meaning of life. What John Dower means...
David Hunter-Chester
Lexington Books
20,138

Creating Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force, 1945–2015
Chapter 10 - Conclusion
Creating Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force, 1945–2015
~When I mentioned to a GSDF general officer I was thinking of calling a history of the GSDF I was writing A Sword Well Made, he asked if I meant a sword as a weapon or as a work of art? The answer to...
David Hunter-Chester
Lexington Books
6,288

Creating Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force, 1945–2015
Bibliography
Creating Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force, 1945–2015
David Hunter-Chester
Lexington Books
7,212

Creating Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force, 1945–2015
Index
Creating Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force, 1945–2015
~Abe, Shinzo, 181,...
David Hunter-Chester
Lexington Books
2,369

Creating Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force, 1945–2015
About the Author
Creating Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force, 1945–2015
~David Hunter-Chester is a retired U.S. Army officer who lived in Japan, five different times, for a total of 15 years. He received his Ph.D. in East Asian History from the University of Kansas. He lives in Kansas with his beautiful bride of more than 30 years and is a proud grandfather.
David Hunter-Chester
Lexington Books
119

Creating Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force, 1945–2015
Series Page
Creating Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force, 1945–2015
New Studies in Modern Japan
David Hunter-Chester
Lexington Books
322

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