Japan's UN Membership Anniversary

What Is Japan's UN Membership Anniversary?

December 18th marks Japan's admission to the United Nations. On this day in 1956, the UN General Assembly unanimously approved Japan's application for membership. Coming eleven years after the end of the Second World War, it was a turning point in Japan's return to the international community.

Why It Took Four Years After Applying

Japan applied for UN membership in 1952, the year it regained sovereignty, but admission did not follow right away. Membership requires a recommendation from the Security Council, and in the midst of the Cold War the Soviet Union, which held a veto, opposed it. The Japan-Soviet Joint Declaration of October 1956 restored diplomatic relations and removed the obstacle; after a Security Council recommendation on December 12, the General Assembly approved Japan's admission on December 18.

• Date: December 18, 1956
• Event: the UN General Assembly unanimously approved Japan's membership
• Significance: a milestone in Japan's return to the international community, eleven years after the war
• Order of admission: Japan became the 80th member state
• The United Nations: an international organization founded in 1945, after the Second World War

Japan Was Not a Founding Member

Japan joined eleven years after the organization was created, as its 80th member, rather than at its founding. Membership has kept growing since -- from 51 states at the outset to more than 190 today. That expansion is itself a record of how the postwar world changed.

Tips for Marking This Day

• Look up the UN's agencies and what each of them does
• Read about the roles Japan has taken on at the UN
• Check what the acronyms of international bodies in the news actually stand for
• Look for work at your organization that connects to international efforts

A Dividing Line in Postwar Japan

December 18, 1956, was the day Japan was recognized as a member of the international community. Falling at the close of the year, it is a date worth remembering as a prompt to look back on the postwar decades.