Japan and Its Neighbors essays

Japan and Its Neighbors essays Japan, China, and North Korea have a strong history that makes dealing with the present and future very difficult. All three countries have close geographic proximity to one another, but have very different cultures, governments, and histories. After World War II (WWII) and the Allied Occupation, Japans constitution includes Article Nine, which states, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes. Many people felt that this clause would bring an end to the ongoing struggle in the region, and that Japan would fall to the wayside as an international power. Also, because the historical dealings that Japan had with China and North Korea, mainly had negative outcomes because of the Japanese military, it would be easy to assume the three nations could resolve conflicts more easily now. On the contrary though, history is still an argument used each time China and North Korea have any diplomatic involvement with Japan. Now there is talk of amending Article Nine and allowing the Japanese to rebuild a military, but with its neighboring countries so close, and still so bitter about the past Japan will not be able to have its own free standing military in the near future. China and North Korea both bring up arguments of their histories with Japan when illustrating why Japan should not remilitarize and amend Article Nine. The Japanese first invaded North Korea in 1359 and 1361 when they forced out the Mongolians who were occupying the area. In 1592 and 1597 the Japanese launched major assaults against Korea. Korea was independent until the 19th century when China in attempt to pacify some of Japans strength, established Korea as part of China. These tensions led to the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, in which Korea was annexed by Japan after another war with Russia in 1910. It was not until Japan was d...