Poll on Article 9, 2011

Before proceeding to Obama's Wars, however, I would like to discuss the possible wider impact of the US exit policy from Afghanistan, particularly in connection with Japan. With the withdrawal of her troops from Afghanistan, the US will be in a position to divert a considerable sum of money earmarked for the military to raising the standard of living of her own people. But that is her problem and I will not go into that. What I would stress here is that the US military bases in Japan will no longer be needed as the bases for waging wars(whether Obama's or otherwise) in the Middle East or South Asia(Afghanistan is now a member of South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation and as such a South Asian country). This is a splendid opportunity for the US military exit from Japan as well.
As for the often talked-about need to defend Japan, contrary to the warning that is coming from inside and outside that Japan is in danger of being invaded given the present fighting level of her Self Defense Forces(SDF), nothing of that sort has happened or is likely to happen. This is particularly notable as, if some country or countries are keen on doing so, this is a wonderful opportunity of doing so when Japan has been greatly weakened by the triple disaster.
I have already introduced the letter and the spirit of Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution, renouncing war and disowning fighting forces, in these columns. Here is an indication of how the Japanese people feel about the article at present. I am quoting an opinion poll on the Asahi newspaper of 3 May, the Constitution Day, 2011. To the question if the Constitution needs to be amended, 54% of the respondents said yes and 29% said no. But to the question if the Article 9 needs to be amended, only 30% said yes and 59%, 8% more than in 2005, said no. Those who said yes to the former question were almost equally divided on the latter one. Interestingly, at a meeting on that day called by those who wanted to amend the Constitution, the main theme was not the Article 9. They said that the lack of an emergency clause in the Constitution was responsible for the poor management of the crisis in the initial stages of the triple disaster. The earthquake and the tsunami were natural disasters, but, as I said, the nuclear plant disaster was a man-made one. Those people single-mindedly want to have the Article 9 deleted, and they have no qualms about making use of anything available.
Back to the subject, the US military exit from Japan will be welcome, not least because the billions which are being transferred from Japan to the US every year for nothing will be used for reconstruction, and the carrier George Washington with its two nuclear reactors will be out of sight. The whole of East Asia and the Western Pacific will instantly appear more peaceful. Even the American general public may not be aware of the bases and money and George Washington. They will surely rejoice to have their sons and daughters in their thousands safely back home.