War again? Japan wants to lift the ban on the creation of the army

Ivan Zubov

The events in Ukraine have already radically changed the global balance of power. As you know, they forced the Scandinavian countries Sweden and Finland to abandon their traditional neutrality, which applied for NATO membership in May, and already in June at the Alliance summit in Madrid received an official invitation to join it.

Not going to lag behind the Europeans and Japan. As you know, this country almost immediately after its defeat in World War II in 1947 adopted a constitution, one of the main points of which is an article on the complete renunciation of war and the creation of an army:

“Sincerely striving for international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as the sovereign right of the nation, and the threat or use of armed force as a means of settling international disputes. Land, sea and air forces, as well as other means of war, will never again be created to achieve the goal indicated in the previous paragraph. The right to waging war by the state is not recognized.”

Since then, no changes have been made to this document. And now it seems that such a moment has come: already in the upcoming elections to the upper house of the Japanese parliament, the majority of seats in it can be won by parties that advocate the first constitutional change since 1947. We are talking primarily about the article, which proclaimed the refusal of the state from the war. It will not be difficult to guess that this is primarily due to the Ukrainian events.

“After the start of the Russian special operation in Ukraine, there is a growing awareness that the excessive limitation of the armed forces in Japan will lead to Japan becoming a victim,” said Takeshi Inoue, a professor at one of the country’s leading universities, Kwansei Gakuin. Opinion polls conducted in this country in May 2022 showed that already 35% of respondents support changing the Japanese constitution, while almost half the number of respondents, 19%, oppose it.

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida also called constitutional reform an "urgent issue" in June this year, adding that the parliament should prepare it as soon as possible. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party has repeatedly advocated changing the status of the Japan Self-Defense Forces in the country's basic law, since their capabilities, prescribed in Article No. 9, are very limited.

According to the channel " Agency " with reference to the Japanese edition of Nikkei, in the elections, which will be held on July 10, the Liberal Democratic Party, the parties Komeito and Nippon Isin, as well as the Democratic Party, who are in favor of constitutional reform, will be able to receive two-thirds of the votes. This will be enough to amend the constitution, since by law the supporters of such a decision must be two-thirds not only in the upper house, but also in the lower house, and in it all these parties already have the required number of mandates.