Japan's Defense Force Goes on the Offense

Neighbors getting nervous; US applauds shows of might
By Colleen Barry,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 23, 2007 6:13 AM CDT
Japan's Defense Force Goes on the Offense
JAPAN. Asaka. Japanes Defense Force. Soldiers preparing sandbags used to protect area where unexploded bomb was defused. 2004. (LON58710)   (Magnum Photos)

Japan has been chipping away at a post-war rule that it's Self-Defense Force can only act, well, defensively. Tokyo recently completed a live-bomb training run on a small island near Guam, the Times reports, stirring tremors among its wary neighbors, but drawing support from a US eager for a powerful ally in the War on Terror.

In the past six years, Japan has upgraded its fighter jets, launched spy satellites, buffered its Coast Guard, and approved a law that could permit revision of the pacifist Constitution. Meanwhile, some Japanese say their country has already violated the anti-offensive strictures, designed to keep the WWII aggressor at bay, by transporting U.S. troops in Iraq. (More Japan stories.)

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