When Prime Minister Shinzo Abe loosened the limits of the pacifist Constitution to drop a ban on the Self-Defense Forces fighting overseas, many experts said it was a step toward becoming a ¡°normal country¡± able to do more in its own defense.
But Ichiro Ozawa, a one-time kingmaker who coined the phrase two decades ago, says Abe¡¯s policy is fundamentally different and risks leading Japan down a path with dangerous echoes of prewar militarism.
Abe¡¯s Cabinet took a step away from Japan¡¯s postwar pacifism this month by dropping a ban on exercising the right of ¡°collective self-defense,¡± or aiding a country under attack. That prohibition has kept troops from fighting abroad since 1945.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.