Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party) leader Shintaro Ishihara said Monday that Japan should produce arms for export overseas so its advanced military technology can act as a deterrent.
"We should sell as many excellent weapons as possible . . . The technologies are much more advanced. We should seriously consider this," the outspoken 80-year-old hawk said in a group interview with The Japan Times and other media outlets before gearing up to campaign for the Dec. 16 Lower House election.
Ishihara criticized the government's arms embargo principles, which were set in the 1960s but have been modified by successive administrations, as "nonsense." In 1976, a key condition was attached by former Prime Minister Takeo Miki, who said Japan should refrain from exporting weapons because the Constitution stipulates that Japan forever renounces war.