The Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake (1995) and the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF): Changing Perceptions and Integration of JSDF into Local Communities

Graduate School of International Cooperation Studies, Kobe University, Japan

^* email: masato74@people.kobe-u.ac.jp

Abstract

This research clarifies how the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) integrated into local communities after the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake of January 17, 1995. In Japan’s post-war pacifist mood, the JSDF had been regarded as a “social outcast” and marginalized by local communities for a long time. In the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake that occurred under such circumstances, cooperation between the JSDF and local governments did not function well. Learning from the earthquake, local governments recognized the need to strengthen daily cooperation with the JSDF through disaster drills. Moreover, local governments that sought the cooperation of the JSDF in disaster drills felt indebted to the JSDF for its cooperation and began to cooperate in recruiting JSDF personnel. Furthermore, these partnerships became stronger with local governments beginning to invite the JSDF to local festivals. As a result, the JSDF became more integrated into local communities. The above findings indicate that the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake became an important turning point in the process of the JSDF being integrated into local communities. Indeed, this change in local communities implies that a social base was formed that would later lead to the “JSDF boom” in the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011.