Japanese Military

[FC]

Japan 2006: Land Of The Rising Gun? (Investor's Business Daily)

 

 

 

Crisis In The Far East: Faced with increased North Korean belligerence, Japan may be coming out of its pacifist shell. The decision to take out Pyongyang’s missiles may be made in Tokyo, not Washington.

 

 

 

 

Japan is not amused. The only nation to have experienced the devastating effects of nuclear weapons now finds itself in the flight path, if not the bull’s eye, of missiles armed with nuclear warheads in the hands of the Mad Hatter of world leaders, Kim Jong Il.

Article 9 of the 1947 Japanese Constitution guarantees Japanese pacifism. On paper, the Japanese aren’t supposed to have any military at all. But they do, skirting the prohibition by calling them Self-Defense Forces (SDF).

And the times they are a changin’. With a nuclear-capable North Korea firing a volley of Scud and Nodong missiles into the Sea of Japan and attempting a test of its long-range Taepodong-2C missile capable of hitting the U.S., Tokyo may be about to decide the militarism that Asia should be fearing is not its own.

Japan has been sensitive to lingering resentment among other nations of its militarist past. It wasn’t until 2004, when he sent 1,000 SDF troops to Iraq, that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi became the first leader of his country since World War II to deploy Japan’s armed forces abroad without a U.N. mandate.

On Aug. 31, 1998, North Korea launched a multistage rocket in what was supposedly an attempted satellite launch. The first stage fell into international waters roughly 400 miles to the east of the launch site. The second stage straddled the Japanese home islands, landing 930 miles away in the Western Pacific.

Japan is pressing the U.N. Security Council for a strong resolution against North Korea coupled with sanctions. But Tokyo knows that Russia and China, both of which border North Korea, have vetoes that they will likely use. It also knows that China, North Korea’s patron, could have used its economic leverage long ago to rein in Pyongyang.

“If we accept that there is no other option to prevent an attack . . . there is the view that attacking the launch base of the guided missiles is within the constitutional right of self-defense,” Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said recently.

On June 23 of this year, the U.S. and Japan signed an agreement to jointly produce anti-missile missiles. A new early warning X-band radar system is located at an SDF base in the northern Japanese city of Tsugaru. It would warn and gather data on North Korean missile launches.

Also in June, Tokyo and Washington agreed to deploy Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missiles on U.S. bases in Japan for the first time. PAC-3 missiles are true anti-missile missiles, unlike predecessors pressed into action during Desert Storm.

Japan has signed an agreement to produce its own PAC-3 missiles for deployment at Japanese bases by the end of the year and has destroyers with the Aegis ballistic missile defense radar. The Japanese destroyers presumably would serve as the electronic eyes in a regional missile defense.

Japan is no paper tiger. With 240,000 troops under arms and a budget of $50 billion, Japan’s military outranks Britain’s in money and manpower. Japan builds a new submarine each year, is launching a fleet of spy satellites and is developing a rocket of intercontinental range that can carry a nuclear payload.

In a recent Forbes magazine article, an unnamed defense official said Japan could develop a nuclear arsenal in a mere 183 days. Japan is a heavy user of nuclear power and has reprocessing plants for mixed uranium-plutonium oxide that can produce weaponsgrade plutonium. Japan is believed to have a stockpile of separated plutonium of 45 tons — enough for 9,000 nuclear weapons.

The price that China, and Russia, may pay for blocking international action on North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs may be a rearmed — and possibly nuclear — Japan. No doubt when President Bush and Koizumi met in the Jungle Room of Elvis’ Graceland Mansion, they had much to talk about.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[karlunity]

Japan owned Korea from about 1911 till 1945.

 

They treated the Koreans in ways that would have made the SS protest.

 

The Koreans, or for that matter, the Chinese do NOT want to see the Japanese army again.

 

Japan is still Japan.

 

3000 years of warrior history cannot and will be changed by 50 years of "peace and love".

 

ANYONE who wants to see Japan rearm is a would do well to read a few history books.

 

Japan has reason to dislike Korea but Japan has more reason to hate us.

 

No-one likes the guy who beat you and we all want to get even...so does Japan.

 

North Korea is a joke, we can take them out in an afternoon.

 

I would worry a lot more about a new Japanese imperial Army and Navy.

 

karl

[Horsefly]

Pay backs are hell,and after the way Japan screwed over their part of the world in the past,they have the right to be sweating.Like Karl said,do a little research on the history of Japan.2 sides to every story.Jerry

[FC]

Well, one of those few times I disagree totally with you. Japan must rearm, and I do not consider them even a remote threat. China is a HUGE threat to us. North Korea will make a parking lot out of Seoul without a lot of hesitation, and there's nothing we can do to stop that.