A quiet pride is evinced in the dispatch of Japan's Self-Defense Forces troops for peacekeeping in Iraq even though the polls say a bare majority opposes the deployment. Says a business executive: "That's their profession; that's what they've been trained for."
A debate over revising the pacifist Constitution, particularly Article 9 -- that forbids the use of military power to resolve disputes -- is under way. Some say an amendment is unnecessary, that a mere reinterpretation would permit Japanese forces to take part in collective security.
The need for that security arises largely from a perceived threat from North Korea. "We are angry about North Korea, not frightened of them," says a retired diplomat, pointing to abductions of Japanese, the launching of North Korean missiles over Japan and North Korea's plans to acquire nuclear weapons.