Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's choice to beef up Japan's military role, supposedly made to fulfill a commitment to his American ally, is emphatically the wrong choice: it enhances the chances of war.
To see why, let us recall the historical context: Japan was engaged in constant military expeditions and wars against its Asian neighbors from the mid-1870s until 1945. Seven decades after embarking on that aggressive path, it was finally defeated by China and the United States.
To its credit, since 1945, Japan has not been engaged in military conflict with its neighbors or with anyone else. In article nine of the country's 1947 Constitution, Japan renounces the sovereign right to war and, to that end, undertakes not to maintain land, sea or air forces.