The Abe administration appears bent on establishing a system to increase arms exports, which could result in accelerating a turnaround in the national policy of avoiding pouring fuel on military conflicts abroad.
Japan might set up a financing arm for weapons exports that would help Prime Minister Shinzo Abe accelerate the break with pacifism and bolster regional security ties.
A Japan-U.S. interim report proposes that geographical restrictions on the activities of the Self-Defense Forces in support of U.S. military operations be removed as part of a tremendous shift in Japan's defense posture.
The Defense Ministry's fiscal 2015 budgetary request of ¥5.05 trillion is the largest ever and represents a 3.5 percent rise from the current year's budget. It is the third-straight year-on-year increase.
The Abe administration must consider whether its new policy that relaxes Japan's long-standing prohibitions against weapons exports could increase tension with other countries and thereby reduce national security.
A meeting earlier this month among Japan-U.S. officials failed to address change for most of the core issues held in place by the half-century-old U.S.-Japan Status of Forces Agreement.
The Foreign Ministry has been conducting clandestine studies about the potential development of nuclear weapons in Japan, and the U.S. is nervous about it.
