I'm reading Bending Adversity: Japan and the Art of Survival, by David Pilling. It mostly focuses on modern Japan, but there is a bit of history on the Self Defence Force.
In the book he says the following:
Article 9 of a document scrambled together by young American idealists working for General Douglas MacArthur stated that: 'The Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.'
...
Almost as soon as the ink was dry, the Americans regretted having put Japan in its constitutional straitjacket. With the outbreak of the Korean War and the subsequent onset of the Cold War, it ill-suited Washington to have an emasculated Asian ally entirely dependent on the US for military protection.
The Constitution came into effect in 1947, the Korean War began in 1950.
I suppose my question is two-part:
Did the Americans really regret putting Japan in its 'constitutional straitjacket'?
Did any Americans, or Japanese sympathetic to the Americans, make any serious attempts to amend Article 9 to allow Japan to wage war again?
Thanks in advance.
Hey! I actually wrote my fourth year history thesis on this and so I always love to talk about this! (my moment to shine!)
The Americans somewhat do regret placing these strict guidelines on Japan, but that feeling is mostly since Reagan and it's mostly because the US was not wanting to pay for the mass troop deployment they have in both South Korea and Japan. The US keeps prodding Japan to change/rid their constitution of article 9 (as Abe is now trying to do). For instance, during the first Gulf War, the US was less than happy with Japan because Japan flat out didn't sent troops, just money. The second Gulf War, Japan sent ground forces, but only for humanitarian and reconstruction purposes. They made this point so clear in fact that they didn't even provide their forces with weapons and I believe it was the Dutch had to follow the Japanese forced around as a protection detail.
As for part 2 of your question, the Americans pressure Japan to amend it to allow them contribute to missions and what not, in an actual combat capacity and not just reconstruction. The Japanese for the most part at fairly loathe to amend it. They almost wear it with pride after WWII, but as mentioned Abe has recently amended it to allow some combat abroad. In the grand scheme of politics in Japan, the left want to keep it the way it is and the right see it as an embarrassment on their country because every other country had the right to wage war, except Japan. I hope this kind of answered your question!