Troops for Iraq vote sparks constitutional controversy in Japan

Punches, insults and kung fu accompanied the vote in the Japanese Parliament for a law authorising the government to deploy troops to Iraq. This litigious operation is the biggest military mission since World War II and is considered a major shift in Japan's post-war pacifist mentality. It is not the first battle and it won't be the last in the Diet over the constitutionality of the overseas deployment.

Last week's vote raised a constitutional controversy in the country and the opposition parties foresee a growing trend toward the country's remilitarisation.

Indeed, many commentators consider the deployment an annulment of the principles of pacifism recognised by Article 9 of the 1947 constitution stipulating that the country will forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.

The polemic is growing within the society because never before has Japan sent forces overseas without a UN mandate.

Following the atomic blasts in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan was constrained to renounce its militarist and colonialist ambitions in Asia.

In reality, Japan is prohibited from maintaining military forces and had to replace its imperial army with a security force that complies with its constitution which renounces war.

Initially, the Self Defence Force (SDF) created in 1954 comprised 75,000 men, although this was considered non-constitutional by many. Today, the SDF accounts for more than 250,000 men and is gradually becoming more like a small conventional army with all the technology that such an army requires. According to the Centre for Defence Information, last year, Japan spent $47 billion on defence which is considered more than any European or Nato country spent on defence.

Moreover, Japan is planning to build two small aircraft carriers to be finished in 2008 and 2009, the first in 60 years.

However, the Japanese are still divided on the issue. Some are still haunted by war guilt and regard their country's new remilitarisation as a fatal mistake that could revive past atrocities.

Others believe Japan should acquire the means to ensure its own security instead of counting only on U.S. support, especially in light of the recent developments in the region and the increasing menace of North Korea as a nuclear power.