A Chronology: 50 years of Japan-U.S. military alliance

1945
Accepting the Potsdam Declaration, Japan surrenders (Aug.15).

1947
The Constitution of Japan comes into effect (May 3).

1950
Outbreak of the Korean War (Jun. 25).
National Police Reserve Force Ordinance promulgated and enforced (Aug. 10).

1951
Treaty of Peace with Japan (San Francisco Treaty) signed (Sep. 8).
Japan-U.S. Security Treaty signed (Sep. 8).

1952
Japan-U.S. Administrative Agreement signed (Feb. 28).
Police Reserve Force reorganized into Security Force (Oct. 15).

1954
Self-Defense Forces founded.

1958
Foreign Minister Fujiyama Aiichiro and U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles agree to revise the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty (Sep. 11).

1960
Foreign Minister Fujiyama and U.S. Ambassador MacArthur secretly agree to allow nuclear weapons to be brought into Japan under the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty. (Jan. 6)

Revised Japan-U.S. Security Treaty (Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between Japan and the United States of America) signed, along with the Status of U.S. Forces in Japan Agreement (Jan.. 19).

1964
Fabricated Gulf of Tonkin incident leads to full-fledged U.S. war of aggression in Vietnam. (Aug. 2)

U.S. nuclear-powered submarine Sea Dragon enters Sasebo Port in Nagasaki Prefecture (Nov. 12).

1968
Ogasawara Islands returned to Japan from the United States (Jun. 26).

1969
Japanese Prime Minister Sato Eisaku and U.S. President Richard M. Nixon issue joint communique which includes view that the administrative rights over Okinawa should be returned to Japan, but with the U.S. nuclear attack base intact and the provision that the whole of Japan should be made a U.S. stronghold for aggression (Nov. 21).

1970
Japanese government announces that Japan-U.S. Security Treaty is being extended indefinitely (Jun. 22).

1972
Administrative rights over Okinawa are returned to Japan (May 15).

1973
U.S. aircraft carrier Midway begins to use Yokosuka Port as its homeport (Oct. 5).

1978
Japan agrees to provide extra funding for the stationing of the U.S. Forces in Japan. Calling it the "sympathy budget," Japan begins to pay what it is not obligated to under the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty or the Status of Forces Agreement (Nov. 9)

Cabinet approves "Guidelines for Japan-U.S. Defense Cooperation" (Nov. 28).

1980
The Socialist Party in an agreement with the Komei Party states that it is ready to join a coalition government which approves of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty and the Self-Defense Forces (Jan. 10).

Maritime Self-Defense Force participate in the multinational "RIMPAC '80" naval exercise for the first time (Feb. 26).

1981
Japanese Prime Minister Suzuki Zenko and U.S. President Ronald Reagan in their summit meeting in Washington clearly state that Japan and the United States are in an alliance (May 8).

1983
Japanese Prime Minister Nakasone Yasuhiro in his talks with U.S. President Ronald Reagan puts forward the concept of Japan and the U.S. being bound by a common destiny. Asserting that the Japanese archipelago should be as strong as an "unsinkable aircraft carrier," Nakasone pledges that Japan will play its part in blockading the three straits (against the Soviet Union) (Jan. 18).

1984
Japan and the United States sign joint operation plans (Dec. 26).

1986
The first Japan-U.S. integrated field exercises held (Oct. 27).
Japan's military expenditure exceeds the one percent of the GNP ceiling (Dec. 30).

1990
The Japanese government decides to contribute one billion dollars to the multinational forces organized following the outbreak of the crisis in the Persian Gulf (Aug. 30).

1991
The Gulf War starts. (Jan. 17)

The Japanese government decides to contribute an extra nine billion dollars for the Gulf operations by the multinational forces (Jan. 22).

Six Maritime Self-Defense Force minesweepers leave Japan for the Persian Gulf. (Apr. 26)

The break up of the Soviet Union (Dec, 21).

1992
Law for Japan's participation in U.N. peace-keeping activities enacted (June 15).

Self-Defense Forces troops sent to Cambodia to take part in U.N. peace-keeping operations (Sep. 17).

1994
Socialist Party Chair Murayama Tomiichi (Prime Minister) announces a switch to approve of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty and the Self-Defense Forces (July 1).

1995
U.S. Department of Defense publishes a report on U.S. strategy toward East Asia (Feb. 27).

The abduction and rape of a Japanese schoolgirl in Okinawa by three U.S. servicemen occurs (Sep. 4).

85,000 Okinawans participate in a rally in protest against U.S. marines' raping of an Okinawan girl. (Okinawans had long complained about the heavy U.S. military presence of 29,000 on the small island -- more than half the total of 47,000 U.S. troops in Japan. ) (Oct. 21).

The cabinet approves a new "National Defense Program Outline" (Nov. 28).

1996
Japanese Prime Minister Hashimoto Ryutaro and U.S. President Bill Clinton hold talks and publish a Japan-U.S. Joint Declaration on Japan U.S. Security. (Apr. 17)

The Japanese and U.S. governments conclude an agreement worked out by a Special Action Committee on Okinawa (SACO), under which the U.S. military will relinquish some bases and land on Okinawa (21% of the total land in use) over seven years, but U.S. troop strength will remain the same. Alternative sites are to be found for training and the stationing of U.S. forces. Japan is to pay the costs for these changes (Dec.2).

1997
Japan and the United Sates agree on a new set of defense cooperation guidelines replacing the 1978 guidelines. They provide for joint planning for regional contingencies and increased rear-area (logistics) support of U.S. forces in a regional crisis by the Japanese civil sector (ports, airfields, hospitals, etc.) (Sep. 23).

1999
In Japan, laws for Japan's participation in U.S. wars under the new "Guidelines" enacted (May 24).

The cabinet decides on the construction of a new U.S. military base in Nago City in northern Okinawa (Dec. 28).

2000
Prime Minister Mori Yoshiro refers to the need for wartime legislation, the first by a prime minister (Apr. 7).

G8 Summit held in Okinawa (July 21).

A U.S. bipartisan study group led by Richard Armitage publishes a report urging Japan to exercise the right to collective self-defense (Oct. 11).

2001
Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro speaks in favor of the revision of the Constitution's Article 9 which prohibits Japan from going to war or having armed forces, as well as arguing for the right to collective self-defense to be exercised by Japan (Apr. 27).

U.S. President George W. Bush announces a new missile defense plan (May 1).

Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi and U.S. President Bush hold talks in Washington (Jun. 30). (end)