Special to The Japan Times
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists recently sought to "out" Japan by revealing that the United States stored nuclear weapons on Japan's offshore islands during the early Cold War. CNN-Time, driven by CNN chief Ted Turner's mission to rid the world of nuclear weapons, duly publicized this revelation. Abolitionists, of course, hope that if the U.S. dismantles its nuclear arsenal, others will follow. But that is akin to believing in tantric flying. Nuclear weapons cannot be abolished, because their technology is known and will not be unlearned.
Nuclear weapons are also an inescapable part of Japan's future, as they are of its past. During the Cold War, U.S. nuclear weapons helped preserve Japan's independence by deterring Soviet ambitions for hegemony over Eurasia. Victory in the Cold War did not end security problems in East Asia, where nuclear weapons remain highly salient. If the U.S. did abolish its nuclear arsenal, would Japan deter the nuclear-armed powers of East Asia by waving its three nonnuclear principles?