Much has been written about the development of postwar Japan’s security leading to its so-called renaissance during the last decade, a term that serves as the focal point of this new book by Andrew L. Oros. As such, this work contributes to the current body of scholarship by presenting a theoretically nuanced and empirically detailed analysis of the evolution of Japanese security identity, policies, and approaches.

Japan’s Security Renaissance uses a “mid-range” theoretical construct, similar to that of neoclassical realism, that integrates both realist and constructivist lenses and problematizes international-domestic interactions in explaining state behavior and preferences. Similar to previous studies, this book stresses the changes that Japan has undergone during the last decade, in terms of its national security orientation. However, Oros departs from some of these works when he argues that the breadth, depth, intensity, and pace of this current shift, which began in the post-Koizumi era, is qualitatively different from what Japan had previously experienced during the “gradual awakening” phase. But Oros also asserts that the unprecedented and multifaceted developments associated with this “renaissance” in Japanese security policy and identity are not wholesale changes representing a clean break from the past. Rather, they are part and parcel of an evolutionary process shaped by the shifts in the international/regional security environment and domestic political milieu that have inevitably altered the manner in which both the Japanese political elites and general public perceive Japan’s immediate, as well as future, security needs.

For Oros, the extent of this renaissance hinges strongly on what he identifies as three sets of interrelated historical legacies that have both enabled and limited the development of Japanese security and will continue to do so. These historical legacies—Japan’s contested memories of the Pacific War and its colonialism, its postwar antimilitarist/pacifist identity, and the U.S.–Japan security alliance—are central to the author’s argument.

Oros organizes his argument into six chapters. In the introductory chapter, he convincingly defines the meaning of “renaissance” in the context of Japan’s security development since 2006. He does so by drawing on four parallels to the European experience in order to validate his choice of terminology. More significantly, he develops his central argument by contending that this security renaissance does not reflect a departure from the postwar security identity that Japan has so faithfully upheld during the last seven decades. Indeed, the three historical legacies just mentioned remain as resilient moderators, if not the “cork in the bottle” that limits Japan’s strategic options. Oros’s argument challenges the notion that Japan’s recent security policy is a possible sign of the revival of Japanese militarism under the stewardship of neoconservative/nationalist political elites.

The second chapter provides an overview of postwar Japanese security from the lens of international relations theory. Beginning with the Yoshida administration right up to Junichiro Koizumi’s premiership, Oros meticulously describes the “gradual awakening” by emphasizing how the salience of epochal events, such as the Cold War and the 9/11 tragedy, together with the constraints and opportunities generated by the three historical legacies he identifies, have set in motion Japan’s path toward a security renaissance. In the following chapters, Oros offers empirically rich accounts of the developments and changes that have taken place in both Japan’s international and domestic realms in the post-Koizumi era. He seamlessly weaves these accounts into his midrange realist-cum-constructivist framework in order to provide a theoretically informed analysis regarding the advent of Japan’s security renaissance through the Abe administration.

Guided by the realist first-order variable in his hybrid analytical framework, in Chapter 3 Oros delves into the systemic-external dynamic, namely, Japan’s changing international/regional security environment, which has expedited the resurrection of both unresolved and new security challenges. Compounded by its declining relative power position vis-à-vis a rising China, Japan has seen a gradual shift in its national psyche, mood, and perceptions pertaining to securitization policies. In Chapters 4 and 5, Oros focuses on generational change and power transition in Japan’s domestic political landscape, which, together with shifting public opinion and attitudes, has noticeably lessened public aversion toward traditional security “taboos,” such as the country’s remilitarization and participation in collective self-defense, among others.

Oros’s contribution to the study of Japanese security comes mainly in his theoretically subtle grasp of the intricacies involved in both shaping and limiting the development of Japanese security policies over the last decade. His hybrid theoretical construct merges the strengths of realism and constructivism, which allows for a comprehensive explanation that takes into account the salience of both power and identity, as well as the workings of the international-domestic nexus, in affecting Japanese foreign/security policymaking. Although hybrid frameworks tend to be discounted by straightjacketed IR theorists for being nonparsimonious and theoretically eclectic, their merits far outweigh their weaknesses, insofar as they provide arguably greater explanatory power, while simultaneously avoiding the pitfall of “analytical myopia” caused by the discounting of multiple levels of analysis in IR.

In the case of Japan’s security renaissance, Oros’s framework has more than adequately addressed the salient conditions, actors, and processes in both the international and domestic settings that contributed to advancing and/or constraining Japan’s quest for greater security. Indeed, the claim that this book “bridge[s] the gap between constructivist strengths at explaining identity construction and adaptation and the strengths of realist-informed scholarship at explaining and demonstrating empirically the changing nature of military threats and shifting balance of power regionally” (p. 33) is not far-fetched. From the realist perspective, the shift in the regional power balance exemplified by a rising China and a declining Japan (militarily, demographically, and economically) has undeniably influenced the manner in which the Japanese political elites and public perceive Japan’s (in)security, which simultaneously affects the traditional tenets underpinning its postwar security identity, that is, antimilitarism and pacifism. This is where constructivism’s preoccupation with identity formation and adaptation can be interwoven with realism to provide a holistic understanding of the inner workings behind Japan’s recent security transformation, which are not simply “billiard ball” responses to changing power dynamics/power shifts.

This book’s focus on China’s leading role in affecting Japanese security is especially noteworthy. Not only is Oros spot-on in explicitly identifying the emergent “China threat” as a factor in the Japanese security calculus, but he also persuasively explains the extent to which the power shift between China and Japan, compounded by rising nationalist fervor and unresolved bilateral discord, has ominously influenced Japanese security perceptions, policies, and identity as a whole. Although North Korea’s growing belligerence, typified by its recent ballistic missile flyovers of Japan, has informed Japanese threat perceptions, it is the unpredictability of China’s rise which Japan’s security planners are arguably most concerned with in the longer term.

Overall, the lasting contribution of Japan’s Security Renaissance lies in the added value of delivering a nuanced theoretical understanding of a widely researched subject. To be sure, the three historical legacies underpinning Oros’s argument are not novel to “Japanologists” and students of Japanese security, insofar as all three “dynamics” have been either wholly or partially dealt with in past studies. However, by synthesizing and interpreting these dynamics via a hybrid theoretical lens, while supporting his arguments with rich data from extensive empirical research, Oros has successfully delivered a thoroughly engaging assessment of Japan’s security transformation. The book is a valuable addition to the scholarship on Japanese security specifically, and its foreign policy in general.