The central government may force municipalities and prefectures to assist in dealing with the outbreak of armed conflicts in areas surrounding Japan, according to government sources.
To saddle the local governments with this obligation, revisions would have to be made to the 1999 law aimed at ensuring the nation's peace and security if armed conflicts break out in the region, such as on the Korean Peninsula, the sources said.
The law stipulates a set of measures Japan is to take to ensure its peace and security in response to a regional crisis. One of the measures is logistic support by the Self-Defense Forces for U.S. forces engaging in armed operations.