Since representatives from the Japanese Government signed the Instrument of Surrender with the Allied powers aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay in September 1945, the world has largely enjoyed peace for seven decades. Despite the half-a-century-long Cold War as well as hot wars of various magnitudes, including the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the Iraq War, and the fact that there musr be an armed conflict going on somewhere in the world at this very moment, full-blown wars like World War I and World War II have been avoided. For the generations that can experience the scourge of war only in movies and history books, peace seems to be an inevitability that is beyond question. But can the peace that has persisted to this day continue? How long will it last?