I'm not gp but the tl;dr is: Japanese government has been pushing for a stronger military. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_9_of_the_Japanese_Constitution

I'm not gp but the tl;dr is: Japanese government has been pushing for a stronger military. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_9_of_the_Japanese_Constitution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_9_of_the_Japanese_Cons... Article 9 in Japan's Constitution, added after WWII, essentially forbids Japan to maintain armed forces for the purpose of waging war. In practice Japan does some armed forces, called Self-Defence Forces, but they're for self-defence only. For example, they cannot join US forces for combat in Iraq, Afghanistan, etc, as other US allies do. Recently, the Japanese government has been pushing for a change in the laws (or in the interpretation thereof) so that Japan can help its allies under the guise of "collective self-defense". http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-33532557 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-33532557