Kazuto Suzuki

Basic law for space activities: Anew space policy for Japan for the 21st century

On 20 June 2007, a bill was submitted to the Japanese’s LowerHouse of Diet. The name of the bill is “Basic Law for Space Activities”, which is a call to establish a new space policy and decision-making structure. The intention of the bill is to achieve a changeover from the old “catching-up” strategy, which focused heavily on technological development, to a more user-oriented space policy. The outcome of the Upper House elections in July 2007 and the subsequent resignation of the Prime Minister Abe makes it difficult to predict when this bill will pass the Diet, but apart from some minor opposition from the left-wing parties, there is a general consensus among wide spectrum of political activists that Japan needs a new space policy.This article discusses the reasons for creating a new legal framework for Japanese space policy, and how it would change the space activities of Japan.

The U.S.-Japan Alliance and Deterring Gray Zone Coercion in the Maritime, Cyber, and Space Domains

The United States and Japan face a dilemma: China is trying to change the status quo in the Indo-Pacific through the use of gray zone coercion, or moves that lie below the threshold that would trigger a military response. RAND convened a pair of public conferences where experts presented papers on the challenges of deterring and defeating gray zone coercion in the maritime, cyber, and space domains through the use of denial and punishment.

Twenty-Five Years of Japanese Peacekeeping Operations and the Self-Defense Forces’ Mission in South Sudan

Japanese participation in Peacekeeping Operations began in the balance between Constitutional and other legal constraints and demand for a larger international role in the post-Cold War era. The success of participation in the PKO in Cambodia and East Timor (UNTAC and UNTAET) created opportunities for further participation because of gradual acceptance of the participation of Self-Defense Forces (SDF) in UN PKOs. However, these successes did not change the fundamental constraints of the conditions for participation, namely the Five Principles on PKO participation. The arrival of the second Abe Administration, whose policy objective is to proactively contribute to peace, increased the expectation of Japan taking a much larger role in the UN PKOs, but the SDF participation South Sudan (UNMISS), which faced difficulties due to the lack of a firm ceasefire agreement and sudden breakout of civil war, raised questions of whether Abe’s policy was too aggressive. With the establishment of Peace and Security legislation, more proactive missions can be taken, but the necessity of national debate for building consensus about participating in PKOs still remains.

How Governance Models Affect Geopolitics: The Asian Case Study

Governing space is quite different from ordinary international governance. In the world of traditional governance, primary responsibility lies in the hands of territorial sovereign states. States have jurisdictions and control over certain parts of the world. It is also a foundation of international governance that states will not [normally] extend their exercise of power beyond their territorial jurisdiction—at least not under normal conditions, which excludes for instance, acts of self-defence. Although there are some exceptional cases, for example, international trade regimes or the International Criminal Court where governance mechanisms transcend territorial sovereignty, the foundation of international governance has not changed for centuries.

The role of international organisations for the fair and responsible use of space

International society is composed of sovereign States. The membership of international organisations such as UNCOPUOS is limited to sovereign Member States and they are the ones who make the final decisions. If there is no agreement or consensus among sovereign States, there will be no regulations. However, we must ask whether the players in space are limited to only State entities. Many commercial organisations are already active in satellite communications and Earth observation and may become active in human space flights in the near future. We cannot simply assume that States are the only actors in space.

L'espace et l'opinion publique au Japon

Ce papier cherche a fournir une analyse de la facon dont le public japonais percoit les activites spatiales nationales et comment ces perceptions influencent le processus de decision pour le developpement de l’espace au Japon. Il se concentre d’un cote sur les discours tenus dans les principaux outils de communication publics tels que les journaux. La conclusion est que la NASDA et le gouvernement japonais, en prenant avantage d’un interet faible des medias pour l’espace, utilisent souvent des elements symboliques de l’espace comme les activites spatiales habitees et soulignent l’importance de faire du reve une realite. D’un autre cote, l’analyse se concentre sur la facon dont le public recoit les images de l’espace qui sont produites par la NASDA et le gouvernement. Les sondages d’opinion montrent que la strategie de la NASDA pour faire passer l’image de l’espace en tant que reve est relativement couronnee de succes. De ce fait, cette perception favorable de l’espace peut-etre consideree comme une des causes fondamentales de la grande stabilite de la politique spatiale japonaise.