Japan: Terrorism and counterterrorism in Japan

Abstract

Japan is unfortunately no stranger to terrorism. Indeed, within the past one hundred fifty years since the Meiji Restoration, the country has experienced political assassinations, kidnappings of innocent citizens, to strikes by apocalyptic millenarian sects. Japanese citizens too have been involved in conducting terrorist attacks, notably in affiliation with Middle Eastern groups. Yet, terrorism and counter-terrorism barely features on academic syllabi within leading Japanese universities. Nor was the term “terrorism” understood as a generic concept until recently in Japan. This chapter seeks to identify historical precedents that shape Japanese perception of terrorism; responses to historical terrorist groups such as the Red Army and Aum Shinri Kyo and the way Japanese authorities identify terrorist threat today, including that emanating from North Korea; the role of the police and the Japan Self Defence Force in resposing to terrorism; and Japan’s response to “global war on terrorism”