Word: kirishima
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...inexorable rise of China, measured not least by the rapid modernization of its armed forces. During his four and a half years in office, Koizumi has pushed Japan and its so-called Self-Defense Force into a much higher profile on the world stage. In 2002, the Japanese destroyer Kirishima set sail for the Indian Ocean to help refuel U.S. and allied ships involved in Afghanistan operations, and Koizumi has offered unstinting support for Bush's war in Iraq. Since 2004, the Japanese Prime Minister has dispatched around 550 troops to Iraq, where they remain, evidence that Japan still numbers...
...rattling its own sword, one that's been carefully sheathed since its defeat in World War II? The U.S. made Japan demilitarize and democratize, and wrote a new constitution forcing its leadership to "renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation." And yet last December the Japanese destroyer Kirishima set sail for the Indian Ocean to support Washington's war on terror. Tokyo also recently announced that it expects to launch its first spy satellites by the end of March?another sign that Japan is now unashamedly assertive when it comes to self-defense. In the past, the argument...
...Instead of amending the pacifist clause, it has proved easier to ignore it. Just weeks after 9/11, the Diet passed the Anti-Terrorism Special Measures Law, which authorized the SDF to support international antiterrorist activities overseas. Under that legislation, the Kirishima was sent to the Indian Ocean?an interpretation of antiterrorism that some believe stretches Japan's constitution to its very limit. Says law professor Kitaoka: "Remilitarization is indeed going on, but no one is willing to take on the task of changing the legal framework." In fact, many legal experts claim that a number of the recent military laws...
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