At the end of World War II, the United States forced Japan into adopting a new constitution that explicitly forbade Japan from “the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.” Japan never wholeheartedly embraced this part of the Constitution. Over the years it has evaded its strict enforcement, quietly rebuilding security measures. But by and large, Japan has been married to the title of pacifist.
On Friday, however, that marriage came to an end.
Read more at “The Samurai Abandons Pacifism”