Is there any scenario where pacifist Japan could decide to arm itself with nuclear weapons?
The answer to the above question would have been “never” for most Japanese over the past 80 years. Being the only country to have experienced a nuclear attack, Japan strongly resists the very topic.
Pacifists will argue that nuclear weapons are forbidden under the 1947 Constitution, although there is no such prohibition in the supreme law of the nation. Since 1957, the Japanese government has consistently stated that Article 9 does not technically prohibit Japan from acquiring or developing nuclear weapons solely for its “self-defense.”
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