Fifty years have passed since the Japan-U.S. security treaty went into force on June 23, 1960. Under this revised treaty, Japan provides military bases to the United States, while the latter is to play an offensive role to defend Japan. Tokyo pursues a defense-only posture, as Article 9 of the Constitution prohibits possession and use of armed forces as means of settling international disputes.
While the treaty has spared Japan heavy military spending and helped it become an economic power, the military bases in the country have enabled the U.S. to carry out military operations in other parts of the world to protect its national interests.
Many Japanese opposed the treaty, fearing it would make Japan a target of a military attack. The fact that Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi, who pushed revision of the treaty, served as commerce and industry minister in the wartime Cabinet of Prime Minister Hideki Tojo and became a Class-A war crime suspect also added fuel to the opposition.