Conflict in local communities over the postwar rearmament of Japan

The case of the National Police Reserve Unit in the city of Matsumoto, Nagano

Abstract

With the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, Japan established the National Police Reserve （the predecessor of the National Safety Forces （1952―54） and its present-day Self-Defense Forces）, which was the starting point for the nation's rearmament.
　This article focuses on the successful invitation issued by the city of Matsumoto （Nagano Prefecture） to a National Police Reserve unit to set up a training camp within the city limits, for the purpose of regional development. The author explores how the city came into conflict with other municipalities in the prefecture over providing the site for the training camp free of charge, one of the NPR's conditions for accepting the invitation, in order to elucidate the complex impact of Japan's rearmament on the various forces within local communities.
　The NPR unit in Matsumoto initially used the city's highlands and other locations to convert an airfield of the former Imperial Japanese Army into a training center. In the process some local communities refused the NPR's request to use their land on the grounds that the training exercises would damage farmland, while other communities complied with requests to conduct road maintenance and improvement. For example, the town of Karuizawa, located at the foot of Mt. Asama, was faced with the dilemma of trying to develop a tourist resort spot, while benefiting from procuring supplies for the Unit. In fact, there was both a move to invite the unit to bivouac there on a temporary basis, with the possibility of providing a permanent camp within the town limits.
　It was in 1953 that the NPR unit and Matsumoto City formulated a plan to purchase a field in Ariakegahara, a former World War II army training site, that had been developed into a residential area after the War. The move caused the residents to split into opposing and supporting groups. The opponents enjoyed both the backing of the local Ariake Village government and national anti-rearmament organizations, including the Japanese Socialist Party and labor unions in efforts to confront the NPR authorities, its Matsumoto unit and public opinion throughout the city.
　Ultimately, the training site plan failed to gain approval from the Ministry of Agriculture, resulting in a serious setback to rearmament and the formation of the National Police Reserve, in addition to creating a situation in which an opposition group comprised of local farmers claiming infringement on their rights to subsistence clashed with commercial interests expecting economic benefits from a permanent NPR garrison. This conflict would rage on even after the camp issue was decided.