On August 6, 1945, at 8:15 am, "Little Boy", the first atomic bomb ever used in war, exploded over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Three days later, the second and last atomic bomb, "Fat Man" used in war was exploded over the Japanese city of Nagasaki. These two bombs ushered in the nuclear age and, fifty years later, nuclear technology is still being improved upon; the potential energy found in atoms is still being harnessed. However, Japan’s role in this nuclear age has been a surprising one. Considering that Japan is the only country in history to experience the devastating effects of a nuclear attack, it is amazing that this country has embraced nuclear technology the way that it has. Japan could have easily shunned nuclear power and everything that has to do with splitting atoms, and justifiably so.

This island country has done exactly the opposite. They have welcomed nuclear power technology with open arms. Japan has spent billions of dollars developing nuclear energy. They depend on it for as much as one third of their power1, and, according to Carey Sublette (Nuclear Weapons’ FAQ) , "Japan plans eventually to generate all of its base load electricity from nuclear power."

After Japan was defeated in World War 2, it came to be under allied occupation. When the American occupation forces arrived, one of the first orders of business on their agenda was to rewrite the Japanese constitution. Among other things, the new constitution removed the emperor from power2 , set up a democratic government, and renounced war(David Krieger, Nuclearism and its Spread to Asia). It also renounced and banned nuclear weapons. However, just because nuclear weapons were banned didn’t mean that nuclear power was banned, and the Japanese began developing their own reactors to power their growing country.

Japan relies heavily on nuclear power, and recently that ever-growing industry received a lot of attention in the news. A nuclear fuel processing plant in Tokaimura had an accident which resulted in the deaths of two workers, the contamination of the surrounding land and the evacuation of hundreds of people. "This accident was not caused by an inherent danger or instability in the nuclear processes. The accident was caused by human error. Workers were inadaquetly trained and bypassed safety measures causing an uncontrolled criticality in the mixing tank" explains Jeffrey Munson3. Unfortunately, many groups, such as Greenpeace are using this to their advantage to further their anti-nuclear cause.

One of Japan’s largest nuclear programs has been the development and use of breeder reactors. These reactors use plutonium as fuel, and create plutonium and uranium as by-products of the fission process(Monju website. Reactor and Primary Loops). Breeder reactors actually produce more plutonium than they consume (hence the name "breeder reactors") which creates the potential for an unlimited fuel supply (Nora Akino). Many other countries, including Russia and the United States, also developed these breeder reactors, but they abandoned them because the cost, both financially and environmentally, was considered too high.

So why exactly do the Japanese have this love for nuclear power? It’s probably caused by a combination of three things. The first is that Japan is a poor country when it comes to natural resources, and they can’t burn what little they have. Nuclear power presents relatively unlimited resource for Japan when compared to its other options, such as importing oil and other fuels. Another reason for this love affair with nuclear technology is that the Japanese people tend to welcome any new technology with open arms. A final reason for this is that, while many other countries are very concerned for their worker’s and environmental safety so they are stepping away from nuclear fission as an energy source, Japan doesn’t seem to share this concern. "The Japanese people are willing to take environmental and financial risks to achieve a goal." (Cdr. Jeffrey Munson).

Japan also stockpiled weapons grade plutonium (a by-product of conventional reactors and processing) and developed nuclear weapons technology(Nora Akino. Japan’s Plutonium: the Coming Nuclear Crisis), but since they didn’t build any actual weapons (warheads), they were still within the bounds of the law, and that’s where they are today: with the potential, but not the power.

The United States and the former Soviet Union both engaged in a massive nuclear arms race. Both countries had literally thousands of nuclear warheads pointed at the other. If both countries had fired their entire respective arsenals, there would have been mutual assured destruction (or MAD) for both countries, and the strong possibility of Nuclear Winter, which would have caused the decimation of the entire human race. Now, under new arms treaties, both countries have agreed to limit their arsenals and dispose of many of their missiles and warheads. However, even with these new treaties and bans, each country still has enough nuclear warheads to each annihilate the other five times over. Japan has more weapons grade plutonium in storage than both of these countries combined. This means that if Japan were to start mass producing nuclear weapons, its nuclear armament could easily surpass that of the world’s two current nuclear superpowers combined(Nora Akino. Japan’s Plutonium: the Coming Nuclear Crisis).

Although Japan has this potential for nuclear weapons, it is highly unlikely that it will act on that potential in the near future. This conclusion can be drawn for three reasons. The first reason is legal; the current Japanese constitution prohibits Japan from building its own offensive military, and from building nuclear weapons. The second reason is cultural; ever since the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, many Japanese people have had a deep seated fear of nuclear weapons and technology, and for obvious reason. The final reason is political; the United States keeps pressure on Japan to keep them from building nuclear weapons.

The constitution of Japan was set up by the American occupation forces under the direction of General MacArthur. To insure the national security of the United States, MacArthur provided a ban on the building of nuclear weaponry in Japan4(David Krieger. Nuclearism and its Spread to Asia.). Although there have been movements to amend the current constitution in Japan, it hasn’t happened yet, and so the country still can not possess its own nuclear weapons.

There is still a fear by many of the Japanese that remember Hiroshima and Nagasaki of nuclear weapons. This is easily justified, because the extent of the damage was so great, and the effects were so lasting, that it has seared a lasting impression into the minds of many(Robert Jay Lifton. Death in Life: Survivors of Hiroshima). It troubles some Japanese citizens that their country would want to build weapons of mass destruction like this. As a result, many organizations against nuclear power are strong here in Japan, including Greenpeace and other international organizations.

The constitution forbids it, so even if one hundred percent of the Japanese people wanted to build nuclear weapons, they couldn’t under the current constitution. Even though the constitution is the main obstacle standing in the way of Japan becoming a nuclear power, there has been discussion lately on changing the constitution and adapting it to more modern times. Some of the proposed changes include the lawful right for the government to construct and deploy nuclear weapons as it sees fit.

Another reason for Japan’s lack of nuclear weapons is pressure from the outside world. Japan remains under the United States’ nuclear umbrella (Han Kristensen. Japan under the US Nuclear Umbrella) which means that the US will protect Japan from nuclear attack by way of deterrence with its own nukes. The United States doesn’t want Japan to possess its own nuclear arsenal for national security reasons, which is why it offers Japan this protection. This presents a problem to Japan, who is surrounded on three sides by countries which it has invaded in the past, and who all have (or are believed to have) nuclear weapons5. If the United States were to pull its protective forces out of Japan, then Japan would be helpless against nuclear attack from any of these countries.

From nuclear reactors to nuclear warheads, Japan is quickly becoming a major player in the international nuclear arena. This is quite amazing when you stop to look back on how Japan was introduced to the nuclear age. It is also amazing how much technology it has developed, considering the limitations placed on it by its own constitution, and by all the protestations and demonstrations. In fact, some people may even call it miraculous that Japan has been able to put its past experiences with nuclear technology behind it and keep moving on towards the future. Whatever you may call it though, Japan has embraced the atom and is trying to squeeze every last resource out of it that it can, to better its position on the world stage, to provide power to its people, and to help insure national security.