title: The Hidden Army: The Untold Story of Japan's Military Forces
author:  Tetsuo Maeda 
description: After WWII, Japan adopted a constitution that renounced war and prohibited the establishment of organized Japanese armed forces. Yet today Japan's defense budget supports a 160,000-man ground force, a potent air force and a coastal navy. Furthermore, according to the author, Japan's defense establishment designs and builds military hardware that is equal to any in the world. Freelance journalist Maeda explains the legerdemain by which the Japanese military, backed by the government, seeks to justify its institutional defiance of Article 9 of the Peace Constitution. An important element in the history is that General Douglas MacArthur, overlord of the American occupation, in 1950 ordered the establishment of the National Police Reserve in response to a Cold War crisis, the Korean War. Other matters lightly covered include the difficulties the Japanese have had in accepting the concept of civilian authority over the military and the ambiguities of their junior partnership in the United States-Japanese Security Treaty. Maeda's sketchy history of Japan's postwar rearmament is useful as a report on the status and composition of Japan's Self-Defense Forces. Photos. <br />Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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  ## Chapter 8
  
  
  It was already later than 8 PM. However, one department of the Defense Forces
  responsible for planning land, air and sea operations, continued its work at
  the same pace as in the daytime. The NSU fleet left the sea area near the Noto
  Peninsula, but a ceasefire agreement has not yet been signed. Although there
  had been no declaration of war before, Japan and the NSU were already at war.
  As long as this military tension doesn't disappear, the lights in the command
  sections won't go out.
  
  Of course, the command of the 101 Battalion from National Defense Forces was
  also no exception.
  
  The commander of the 101 Independent Magic-Equipped Battalion, Lieutenant
  Colonel Kazama was summoned by the battalion's commander, Lieutenant General
  Saeki, and arrived at her personal office. Kazama wasn't a part of battalion
  commanding officers, but occupied position of Saeki's dedicated sub