ABSTRACT
Japan’s post-war Constitution is arguably the most widely known text of cosmopolitan orientation in the nation. This highest law of the land was promulgated in 1947 immediately after the country’s defeat in the Second World War. Article 9 is notable for its pacifism, internationalism, universalism and, most importantly, its denial of military means of coercion, the very foundation of the modern nation state. It reads:
Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.
In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized.
This is of course a statement of ideals, not reality, and must be read with a high degree of caution and scepticism. The political establishment of Japan has repeatedly, and with sheer expediency, re-interpreted the article to address the nation’s strategic and domestic concerns for more than six decades, so much so that the country’s Self Defense Force personnel now number a quarter of a million and its military spending ranks among the top ten in the world, even though its ratio to GDP is lowest among key nations. Moreover, critics of the post-war Constitution point out that it was initially drafted by the Occupation Forces. They condemn it as an imposed doctrine that does not have roots in Japan and argue that it should be revised to meet changing circumstances and reflect Japanese tradition and culture.