More than a month after Prime Minister's Shinzo Abe's security legislation was passed, the gulf between supporters and opponents remains wide.
To supporters, in a world of new threats, the laws represent a necessary new chapter in Japan's 70-year process of postwar normalization; a proportionate and responsible shouldering of the global security overhead that advanced nations are obliged to share.
Opposition voices, however, remain angry and loud. The Japanese Communist Party has even proposed an extraordinary partnership with the Democratic Party of Japan to create a single-issue unified national coalition. Those who stand in opposition to the legislation, including a sizable swath of the public, see recidivistic, revanchist and militaristic "war legislation."