Staff writers After last week's terrorist attacks in the United States, Japan was again haunted by the dilemma that confronted it 10 years ago.

While the U.S. and its allies mull ways to retaliate, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has been pressed to find ways for Japan to contribute to an expected multinational military operation despite the constraints of its war-renouncing Constitution.

For many officials and lawmakers, bitter memories linger of the Persian Gulf War, when Tokyo's $13 billion contribution to the U.S.-led multinational force was called "too little, too late."