In the summer of 2015, tens of thousands of angry Japanese took to the streets of Tokyo.
Changes to security legislation pushed by then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe were considered by some to be so controversial, so against the spirit of Japan¡¯s pacifist Constitution, that protests against them were the biggest seen since the 1960s. In parliament, some lawmakers scuffled in a failed attempt to stop the law from being passed.
International media asked, ¡°Is Japan Abandoning Its Pacifism?¡± The Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Herbert Bix reflected a commonly held view at the time when, writing in 2016, he said that ¡°neoliberals illegally jammed through¡± the bills and that increased defense spending was ¡°wasting taxpayer money that is needed to meet the more pressing needs of the Japanese people.¡±
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