by liberal japonicus
Here in Japan, one reason Takaichi decided to call an election was to support her goal (and the goal of her mentor, Abe) of revising the constitution. link
Sanae Takaichi, who was re-elected prime minister in the Diet on Feb. 18, expressed strong determination to pursue revisions to the Constitution and the Imperial House Law, two long-standing goals of her Liberal Democratic Party.
“As the LDP, we intend to tenaciously work to create an environment in which a (constitutional) amendment proposal can be initiated as soon as possible and lead to a national referendum,” Takaichi, the LDP president, told a news conference after inaugurating her second Cabinet.
The discussions about this usually center around philosophical questions and the will of the Japanese people. This webpage talks about public opinion related to constitutional revision, and other pieces often speak of the ‘pacifism‘ of the Japanese people. I don’t think that is wrong, but I believe it is only part of the story.
in 2014, Abe re-interpreted Article 9 of the Japanese constitution to allow Self Defense forces to go to support allies. This law review article entitled Japan’s “Reinterpretation” of Article 9: A Pyrrhic Victory for American Foreign Policy? represents one thread, which was that the US was pushing the Japanese government. This is interesting to consider in light of Trump’s complaints about NATO defense expenditures, (Abe used a cabinet decision rather than go through a constitutional amendment process). Here is another piece by a Japanese author arguing for the necessity of this reinterpretation, while a summary of the editorials from the time suggests public feeling was opposed. The Mainichi did a lot of reporting on how the decision basically had no records of the deliberations.
I give all of this as background to this youtube video, which discusses how South Korea has become a major supplier of arms systems, providing 2% of arms exports. This may seem small, but, as the video notes, it was 0.9% in 2014, so this is a big jump. The video explains why South Korea is moving into this market, but the fact that South Korea started expanding in 2014 not only synchs with Abe’s re-interpretation, but also with a 2014 decision to loosen the restrictions on arms exporting by Japan. These exports were governed by Three Principles on Arms Exports and Their Related Policy Guidelines, established in 1964, but in 2014, they were replaced by Three Principles on Transfer of Defense Equipment and Technology. In the news now is an LDP panel opting to change the guidelines for such transfers.
The current limitation of defense equipment exports to the five categories of rescue, transport, warning, surveillance and minesweeping was eliminated.
Moreover, any weapons developed jointly with other nations can now be exported to third-party nations.
Exports to nations engaged in war would also be allowed if the government decided there were special circumstances warranting them.
The penny dropping in the title is idea that for Japan, shifting the economy in this direction would kill two birds with one stone, exports would be boosted and indigenous defense capacity ramped up. I sure as hell don’t like it, but it has an internal logic to it that is hard to refute.
This website is for the Constitutional Revision Research Project (there are other questions, including the question of Imperial Succession, the provision of emergency powers and voting disparities) and this page is about Chapter 2, which is the renunciation of war. I’m not sure how useful it is to someone without much background, but it allows you to see the people connected with the debate and then find their opinions.
Anyway, some more grist for the mill. Have at it.