On the same day an advisory body of the prime minister called "The council for the reestablishment of legal foundation for ensuring security" released a report the keynote of which is to nullify Article 9 of the "Pacifist Constitution" and thus pave the way for Japan to militarily interfere in all international disputes, in actuality.

Japan has rushed headlong into its militarization in the recent period. Closely following its lurch to the Right, the world is stunned by such an undisguised state-sponsored attempt of Japan to change the international order which has been abided by since the end of World War II.

It is an aim sought by Japan to reemerge as an ordinary state "capable of fighting a war" free from its post-war system as early as possible by blatantly challenging the international community calling for eradicating the history of fascism.

The revival of militarism has begun to be potentially dangerous. Japan is emerging a war force with considerable military capability under the patronage of the U.S.

Such move is getting more serious as it is timed to coincide with the shift of the U.S. strategic pivot to Asia-Pacific.

The military operational sphere of the "Self-Defense Forces" (SDF) has expanded to Asia-Pacific from the vicinity of Japan and its military strategy has been fully converted to the one for preemptive attack from "the exclusive defense".

The Japanese reactionaries are now tightening "alliance" with the U.S. under the pretext of exercising the right to collective self-defense.

It is their view that the "tightened Japan-U.S. alliance" is prerequisite to ensuring "peace and security" in the region and this is impossible without Japan's exercise of the right to collective self-defense.

In a nutshell, it is their contention that Japan-U.S. alliance might be reduced to a mere name in case the SDF can neither protect the U.S. warships from the attack of hostile forces nor intercept their missiles flying to attack its mainland while conducting joint military actions with the U.S. forces.

Japan, as a war criminal state, is banned from having an army as its regular forces, deprived of its right of belligerency and the right to participate in a war, and allowed to exercise only the right to individual self-defense by law in face of the strong demand of the international community after the war.

The Japanese reactionaries, always displeased with this, have established a legal foundation for ensuring the overseas military activities of the SDF, as evidenced by its adoption of "the law on coping with contingency in the vicinity of Japan", "the law on special measures against terrorism", etc.

Japan failed to hurl the troops of the SDF into overseas military operations, afraid of the public pressure at home and abroad. But entering the new century, it has drastically expanded the sphere of the activities of the SDF even to the Indian Ocean in the new century under the pretext of "supporting the U.S." as if it had got a golden opportunity.

Japan has thus become able to hurl all forces of the SDF into overseas under that pretext though it is not exposed to direct attack from outside.

Japan seeks not to miss the opportunity to do so now that the U.S. is concentrating its forces on Asia-Pacific, pursuant to its pivot-to-Asia strategy.

The recent formal support voiced by Obama for the intention of Japan to exercise the right to collective self-defense is little short of putting spurs to Japan's militarism.

However, Japan's act of calling back the departed soul of militarism will only bring disasters not only to itself but to the U.S. and the rest of the world. The road taken by Japan at present is the one for reemerging a war state.

The international community should keep sharp vigilance against Japan oblivious of the lesson taught by its defeat.