Committee to Pacify the Dispute over JSDF’s role and Article 9 (JSDF for 9)

The Jieitai o Ikasu Kai was established in 2014 by former staff of the UN, former Self-Defense Force officials, and scholars. Kenji Isezaki (professor at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies and former chief of the UN’s disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration Coordination Section),Kyōji Yanagisawa (director of the International Geopolitical Institute of Japan and former assistant chief Cabinet secretary in charge of national security and crisis management and), andAkira Katō (professor at J.F. Oberlin University and former researcher at the National Institute for Defense Studies) were invited to participate. Yanagisawa served as the representative of the group.

In 2015, the group published its proposal in Japanese, English, Chinese (simplified and traditional characters), and Korean. The proposal does not reject the maintenance of the Self-Defense Force, but it does caution against rushing to use collective self-defense and turning the Self-Defense Force into a Self-Defense Army (Bōeigun). Instead, it calls for the government to examine the roles and possible actions of the Self-Defense Force under the current Constitution. This draft of the Constitution proposes using strictly defensive measures (senshu bōei) for national security and using private companies and NGOs to make international contributions to non-military fields such as education and medicine. It also points out that it is necessary to rethink the US-Japan alliance even if it might cause friction between the two nations.

The Jieitai o Ikasu Kai’s website contains publications by former Self-Defense Force officials, top officials in the Ministry of Defense, and scholars. It also has information about symposiums, other events, and articles that people have contributed.