Japan to Re-Arm?

[Flesh Thorn]

TOKYO – Imagine that North Korea launched a missile at Japan. Tokyo could — and would certainly try to — shoot it down. But if the missile were flying overhead toward Hawaii or the continental United States, Japan would have to sit idly by.
Japan's military is kept on a very short leash under a war-renouncing constitution written by U.S. officials whose main concern was keeping Japan from rearming soon after World War II. But if Japan's soon-to-be prime minister Shinzo Abe has his way, the status quo may be in for some change.
Abe, set to take office for a second time after leading his conservative party to victory in elections last Sunday, has vowed a fundamental review of Japan's taboo-ridden postwar security policies and proposed ideas that range from changing the name of the military — now called the Japan Self-Defense Forces — to revising the constitution itself.


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/12/21 ... z2GMx6MvCc

[Jim]

Not a surprize at all.

[Lefty]

The only surprise to me is that it has taken this long for them to change their constitution. I recall similar discussions in the 1960's that US administration officials were regretting MacArthur's insistence on the self-defense-only provision when the US was looking for help with VN. That would have been dicey, however, given the VN memories of Japan's tender mercies in WWII.

Without going into a long dissertation, it should also be noted that the Japanese are one of the most, if not the most, racist cultures on earth, regarding themselves as direct descendants of the Sun God and therefore the original "Master Race". Regardless of their elaborate politeness, they regard all other cultures as rather lesser species.

Re-ascension of the Japanese military will introduce an interesting factor in the rapidly changing world, and may not really be to the benefit of the US.

Remember this too - they are the only people in history to date who have suffered actual nuclear attack.

[KW Driver]

I've had the opportunity to somewhat interact with some of them. Not sure how I feel about their quality.

I would say it'll probably take a generation or so for them to get back their martial spirit.

My cousin has done a lot of contract translation work for State. He said to me that their CoS thought that Nanking was a myth. That made me pause to think.

[GoldCoast]

If I was Japan I would do it. I can't blame them, and I can't say I'm against it. Their culture has fundamentally changed (just like ours) since the 1960's. I'm not worried about them building up their conventional military.

[RangerX]

As long as there is no impact on their porn industry....