While armed forces in several countries underwent deep transformations after the end of the Cold War, few if any, however, experiences more radical changes than Germany and Italy, and Japan. The book explores how the three countries modified posture and structure of their militaries over the past three decades. While the three countries all had to overcome a pacifist constitution, a widespread view – in both elites and public opinion – that that war was a taboo, and armed forces designed to defend and deter against large-scale threats, they all became more active security providers over the last decades. Each country followed a distinct path, though. The book reconstructs these paths, trying to show how a mix of external and domestic factors affected the pace and the extent of transformations. The book also identifies critical junctures in such process: any push to change – it is argued – is mediated by the need to come to terms with the cumbersone weight of the past.