US-Japan Crisis Mgmnt Preface

U.S.-Japan Crisis and Consequence Management

Crisis Management in Japan and the United States

Preface

Over the past few decades, the United States and Japan have developed an ever thickening web of cooperative and consultative relationships across various fields including the arts, sciences, culture, economics, education, politics, and the military. Mirroring the trends of technological development, globalization, and greater interdependence among nations, an increasingly wide variety of institutions and working professionals from the two countries are collaborating on countless projects, some with commercial applications, others focused on alleviating poverty, disease, and environmental degradation in the developing world, and still others aimed at protecting national and international security. The primary motivating factor behind these efforts is the quality and often complementary nature of the countries’ financial, technical, and human resources available to address such problems or exploit opportunities, as well as ever strengthening common interests with regard to nurturing global economic health, promoting democracy, and maintaining a stable international order. Despite significant language and cultural barriers, citizens of the world’s top two economies continue to explore new ways to work together. A recent example of this trend is the increased cooperation between Japanese and U.S. non-governmental organizations and civil society organizations in the areas of advocacy and overseas development (a field that previously saw relatively little U.S.-Japan cooperation).

The same forces that bring Americans and Japanese together in pursuit of constructive objectives, however, also allow for greater and more rapid harm when a natural or man-made calamity occurs, and preparing to manage large-scale crises and their consequences is proving to be yet another necessary avenue for bilateral cooperation. Improvements in communications, computing, transportation, and other technologies; increased trade and more integrated economic activity; and a broad U.S.-Japan political and military alliance in global affairs have contributed to general prosperity, but they have also had negative effects that could potentially outstrip the ability of a single nation to respond adequately on its own. Examples of these negative effects include more sophisticated military threats (missiles and weapons of mass destruction in North Korea and other hostile states), quick-moving information technology threats (global computer viruses and threats to critical infrastructure), the fast spread of infectious diseases across borders (evidenced by the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, in 2003), cascading economic failures (as seen in the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s), and asymmetric threats that cut across all the above-mentioned examples (via non-state terrorism and the proliferation of chemical, biological, and nuclear materials, not to mention the spread of radical and violent ideologies underlying these threats, whose adherents see themselves in competition with democracy and capitalism).

In addition, the concentration of people and vital infrastructure in urban centers means that a large-scale natural disaster, such as a massive earthquake, could have a devastating human and economic impact in cities like Tokyo or Los Angeles. The two countries also have an opportunity and an obligation to assist third countries when they are faced with natural and man-made catastrophes. All of these facts argue for improved national and international crisis management efforts on the part of the United States and Japan, but particularly Japan, where a disaster could have a substantial impact not only on Japanese security, but also on U.S. security because of the critical role that Japan plays as a host to U.S. military forces.

In light of this need, the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP) at Osaka University and the Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis (IFPA), under a generous grant from The United States-Japan Foundation, in 2000 began a multi-year project to examine ways to enhance U.S.-Japanese cooperation on crisis and consequence management. At the start of the project, the co-organizers believed that bilateral consultation in this field was inadequate and that Japan in particular needed to improve its crisis management system after its poor execution during such events as the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake in 1995 and the Tokaimura nuclear plant accident in 1999. The primary goal of this undertaking, therefore, was to address these inadequacies by promoting greater cross-fertilization of people, ideas, and best practices in the general field of crisis management so that both countries would be better prepared in case of various national, regional, or global emergencies.

Over the course of this project, however, participants have noticed significant improvements in the areas of both bilateral cooperation and Japanese domestic reform. Consequently, this monograph has become as much an explanation of the dramatic changes that have recently taken place as it is a call to action for further enhancements. By researching and explaining these recent developments, the project aims to assist crisis management professionals and alliance managers in identifying the most efficient and productive means of cooperation. During the past three years, this project has played its part in promoting bilateral dialogue and in providing statistical and intellectual weight behind the consultations and reform, the very importance of which was underlined in a most tragic and unexpected way by the horrible terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001.

As part of the project, the two institutions organized and held two conferences – the first in Washington, D.C., in November 2000 and the second in Tokyo in April 2002 – that brought together government, academic, and private sector experts to examine the issues raised in crisis and consequence management situations and to review current and potential future national and international responses to disaster situations. This monograph is an outgrowth of discussions held at these two conferences, papers presented at the meetings, and substantial research since the second conference to take into account the dramatic changes taking place in both countries.

The monograph is divided into five chapters. The first introduces the context behind some of the major reforms involving crisis and consequence management in both the United States and Japan. This provides a basis for seeing how each government views its responsibilities and the scope of the problems at hand. It also provides insight into what organizations and capabilities are viewed as necessary to respond to various crises and disasters. Definitional, cultural, and legal clarity also helps highlight differences and similarities between the Japanese and U.S. approaches to the issues (contributing to constructive collaboration), and the second chapter provides this necessary input. The third chapter examines four case studies in crisis management – two in Japan, one in the United States, and one thematic case study on cyber security. The studies highlight both current and past mechanisms for crisis response and consequence management in each country, as well as the past organizations. They also provide insights into areas that may be amenable to future collaboration. The fourth chapter of the monograph builds on the first three and examines how the threat of both man-made and natural disasters has evolved, and how the mechanisms to detect and respond have similarly evolved in Japan and the United States. Various laws, procedures, and organizational changes are examined, and open questions and ongoing policy issues are highlighted. For the United States, changes both before and after September 11 are outlined, and the summer 2002 initiative to create an entirely new cabinet-level department with responsibilities in this area is discussed. The fifth and final chapter contains conclusions and recommendations, focusing on the most promising areas for cooperation and collaboration between the United States and Japan in crisis and consequence management.

IFPA and OSIPP are grateful to the United States-Japan Foundation for its support of this research and dialogue project. It has been a true bilateral effort in terms of organizational and intellectual contribution, and the project has facilitated substantive meetings among dozens of Japanese and American specialists who normally have few, if any, opportunities to interact and exchange ideas and information. In this sense, we believe that the project has taken to heart the Foundation’s goal of building bridges between our two nations, and that the benefits of these cooperative efforts will be felt by many for a long time to come. Crisis management cooperation between the United States and Japan is beginning to thrive, and this project was fortunately timed to catch this cresting wave of interest.