The participation of Japan Self Defense Forces (JSDF) in peaceful overseas operations in Asia is a sensitive and much debated topic. To its credit, the JSDF has performed exemplary service in such disaster situations as the Aceh, Indonesia tsunami relief operation in 2005. The technical assistance of the Japan Coast Guard (JCG) in the containment of the 2006 Guimaras oil spill in the Philippines is also widely seen as a key element in controlling this man-made disaster.

However, the Asian point of view regarding the dispatch of any foreign military assistance to their territories, even in time of natural disaster, is still influenced by memories of colonial domination, and the historical experience of wartime Japanese aggression. Dr Rosalie Arcala Hall of the University of the Philippines in the Visayas took on the daunting task of looking at the pros and cons of Civil-Military Cooperation in Emergency Relief in Southeast Asia as her research project for the Asian Public Intellectual(API) Fellowship Program, sponsored by the Nippon Foundation. Dr Hall took into account the views from Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines about this important theme.

In a recent seminar held at the Nippon Foundation in Tokyo, Dr Hall and several of her API colleagues presented and discussed their findings with Japanese government officials. From the Japanese perspective, any dispatch of peace time emergency military assistance must be evaluated and compatible within the limits set by Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution which emphasizes the JSDF role strictly in terms of Japan's territorial defense. Recently, there has been a gradual relaxation of these limits by the Japanese government to allow JSDF deployment overseas for peacekeeping, reconstruction, humanitarian and civil emergency missions in Southeast Asia and beyond.

Nevertheless, it was pointed out that the Japanese public remains very cautious about the role played by the JSDF overseas, although the response of Indonesia and the Philippines to the combination of the more experienced civilian Japan Disaster Relief (JDR) organization and JSDF peacetime disaster assistance is seen as generally favorable. Naturally, the SDR and JSDF will only assist countries that invite them to do so. Dr Edy Prasetyono, a senior researcher at the Department of International Relations, Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Jakarta said Indonesians generally have a positive impression of the JSDF role in international security, peace-keeping, and disaster relief. This appears to be especially true after the Aceh tsunami, which saw the largest deployment of the Japanese military since the end of World War II to help with medical care and reconstruction.