Delivering his message to a global audience at the United Nations last week, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe outlined his vision of Japan as a pacifist nation willing to engage more actively in international security.
Abe told the annual U.N. General Assembly in New York that Japan will become a "proactive contributor to peace" and increase its involvement in U.N. collective security, apparently setting the stage for lifting the nation's self-imposed ban on collective self-defense.
"I realized anew how much the world is expecting of Japan, a country that proactively contributes to global peace and prosperity," Abe said at a news conference Friday, summing up his trip.