The Self Defense Forces of Japan (SDF) are building up troops so that ‘Japan could wage a war to other nations’ in parallel with the process of constitutional amendment. The units are under a reorganization process along the initiative of Prime Minister Abe Shinzo. On March 27 were established the Ground Component Command and the amphibious rapid deployment brigade. The newly founded bodies aim to be integrated more closely to the US military in accordance with the series of laws on national security.

RESTRUCTURING OF SELF DEFENSE FORCES CLOSELY COMBINES WITH CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT PROCESS

A plan to establish the Ground Component Command, a centralized office of operation of the five district troops across the nation, and the amphibious rapid deployment brigade was included in the revised law on the Self Defense Forces. The change was approved by the majority votes of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito as well as the Ishin during the ordinary session of the Diet last year.

The reorganization is the most significant reform since the SDF’s foundation. A plan of the Command was presented in the Mid-term Defense Program, on which the cabinet decided in 2013, in the context that troops could move rapidly and flexibly on the nationwide scale.

Civilian Control Scheme Declines

The Maritime SDF has its fleet command and the ASDF has its air component command to control over the national units, but the ground forces have not had a centralized authority. It is because concerns prevailed that such a command would undermine a civilian control scheme and ‘resurge the former militarist-led unit’. Several governments have discussed the issue, seeking for a centralized power, but the initiative has been aborted. Under the Abe government, however, a precious historic lesson was thrown away: it wants to make the nation be aggressive. The three troops of SDF will be combined more tightly in the operations and the Japan-US alliance will usher in a new co-operational stage in light of the war legislation.

The new Command stays in the Asaka Base, located in the area bordering Tokyo and Saitama Prefecture, and 180 personnel will be stationed at the beginning. The authority works in the direct guidance of the Ministry of Defense. Another new body, ‘Japan-US joint department’, is to reside in the GSDF Zama Base inside the US Camp Zama (Kanagawa Prefecture). It facilitates three SDF troops to communicate easily with the US counterparts.

SDF Grows to be More Aggressive

The amphibious rapid deployment brigade, whose model comes from the US Marines, is composed of 2,100 personnel. The brigade comes from the Infantry Regiment of Western Japan stationed in the Aiura Base (Sasebo City, Nagasaki Prefecture). The number of troops will later increase to 3,000. Reportedly, the government plans to deploy another regiment in Okinawa.

The Defense Ministry explains that ‘the brigade will promptly land, regain and secure it, if a remote island is occupied by foreign troops’. But in fact the contingent is the very unit that attacks ‘a hostile territory’.

Transport aircraft Osprey, a vertical taking-off and landing vehicle, has repeatedly experienced severe accidents, including a recent crash at Nago City, Okinawa. Last February, too, a helicopter of the Ground SDF brought down to a resident house in Kanzaki City, Saga Prefecture, which is next to Nagasaki Prefecture. A plan to deploy 17 units of Osprey at the Saga Airport (Saga City) was cancelled at the moment and provisionally they will be stationed in the Kisarazu Base (Kisarazu City, Chiba Prefecture), which is 1,000 kilo-meter far from the original airfield.

Fifty-two units of amphibious vehicles are to be purchased in the schedule, but actually 15 of them have been shipped due to scarcity of parts on the side of the manufacturers. Reportedly, shipping of another type of amphibious vehicle AAV7, one which is used at the time of landing, is delayed, too.

Capabilities of the amphibious brigade in the landing operation violate Article Nine of the Constitution and could lead to overseas combat operations. 

Let’s win in the 30 million-signature collection campaign against the constitutional revision drives. Let’s strengthen social opinions to reject the government’s initiative to change Japan into a country that could wage a war.

April 10, 2018