|
 Demonstrators carrying banners that read "Scrap the
unconstitutional war bills" lined the street near a hotel outside
Tokyo where lawmakers were to hear public comments on the bills,
which the government aims to get voted into law by parliament's
upper house this week after committee approval.
It was the latest in a string of protests that, while smaller,
echoed those which forced Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's grandfather,
Nobusuke Kishi, to resign as premier after ramming a U.S.-Japan
security pact through parliament 55 years ago.
The government says the changes to the law, welcomed by ally
Washington, are vital to meet new challenges, such as that presented
by rising neighbor China. Opponents say the revisions violate the
pacifist constitution and could embroil Japan in U.S.-led conflicts
around the globe.
Abe's ruling bloc has an upper house majority, but major opposition
parties have vowed to prevent a vote before parliament disperses on
Sept. 27 by using delaying tactics such as no-confidence and censure
motions.
The bills have already been approved by the lower house.
The legal revisions include an end to a decades-old ban on defending
a friendly nation under attack, or collective self-defense, when
Japan faces a "threat to its survival".
The measures also expand the scope for logistics support for the
militaries of the United States and other countries, and for
participation in multinational peacekeeping operations.
Some Southeast Asian countries, worried by China's actions to
bolster its claims in the disputed South China Sea, have also
welcomed Japan's security shift.
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China, where there is still deep anger over Japan's brutal
occupation before and during World War Two, has said the legislation
would "complicate" regional security.
The revisions still leave Japan short of being a "normal nation",
unconstrained in overseas military operations by legal limits and a
deeply rooted public anti-war mindset.
"If you look at before this set of legislation and related changes,
it was a pretty ludicrous situation where Japanese Self-Defence
Forces could barely do anything worthy of the name of defense forces
except in a major attack on Japan," said Alan Dupont, a professor at
the University of New South Wales.
"I'd say they've moved from 25 percent to 50 percent. It's like a
doubling of their flexibility and capacity to deploy forces
overseas, but we're still 50 percent short of what the industry
standard is."
(Additional reporting by Shiori Ito)
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