Amid rising tensions in the South China Sea, East China Sea, and North Korea’s missile development, this essay examines Japan’s defense debate and constitutional revision. It highlights growing public awareness of international security risks reflected even in Asahi’s own polls.

That alone shows that many people are sensing the critical state of international affairs.
2018-01-23
The following is a continuation of the previous chapter.
President Xi Jinping cited the seizure, land reclamation, and militarization of islands in the South China Sea as one of the major achievements of his first five-year term.
The Chinese government’s official website has also declared that it will continue expanding its territorial claims in the South China Sea.
In the waters around the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, Chinese government vessels repeatedly intrude.
North Korean missiles have flown over the Japanese archipelago.
The dangers surrounding Japan are increasing.
Under such circumstances, Japan’s defense spending is only just approaching 1 percent of GDP.
Compared with other nations, this ratio is extremely low, and in terms of defending the Senkaku Islands and Japan as a whole, there are severe shortages in personnel and equipment in both the Self-Defense Forces and the Japan Coast Guard.
To describe Japan’s defense spending as an “excessive arms race” without acknowledging this reality is truly an abstract and unrealistic pacifism.
On September 14, under the headline “70 Years of the Constitution: Return to a Proper Course,” an editorial argued that public opinion on constitutional revision is divided and that revision should not be forced through.
It called for “broad consensus beyond party lines” and urged a return to “the original starting point cultivated by the constitutional review commissions of both houses.”
However, as previously noted, the constitutional review commissions have remained almost dormant.
Rather than merely warning against forcing constitutional revision, a responsible media should urge active debate in the constitutional review commissions to fulfill their responsibility to the public.
Incidentally, even Asahi’s own public opinion poll reported that regarding the Prime Minister’s proposal to revise Article 9, 44 percent said it was “unnecessary,” while 41 percent said it was “necessary.”
That more than 40 percent supported revising Article 9 even in Asahi’s own survey is deeply striking.
That alone shows that many people are sensing the critical state of international affairs.
To be continued.