This study sprang from an interest in U.S.-Japanese relations, which I
pursued while a graduate student in the Law Faculty of Kyoto University
in 1983. Seeking an understanding of the present alliance, I proposed to
study its origins in the 1950s. A Japanese friend would later describe my
master's thesis on the Mutual Defense Assistance Agreement of 1954 as
equivalent to traditional Japanese comedy, or rakugo. I began with the
question of why the United States and Japan agreed to establish the
foundations for Japanese rearmament in 1954· And while I attempted to
explain motivations in Tokyo as well as Washington, I was ultimately
unable, given the paucity of resources on the Japanese side, to dispel the
notion that the security relationship was simply a one-sided affair. The
question of why in 1954, my friend exclaimed, was moot. The United
States placed Japan at the center of its containment strategy in East Asia
and the recently vanquished Japan was compelled to comply.