Introduction: The Pursuit of Legitimacy and Military-Society Integration

“The public called us bastards [shiseiji],” recalled veteran Satō Morio, referring to Japan’s Self-Defense Force (SDF), the country’s post–World War II military organization. Satō joined the Police Reserve Force (PRF), a forerunner of today’s SDF, when it was established in 1950, and served in its largest branch, the Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) until his retirement in 1992. Over the course of multiple interviews and many informal conversations, he told me that the force and its personnel were regarded as an illegitimate, disreputable half-brother; as the shameful offspring of an illicit relationship with the Americans who became mercenaries serving on