Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution

Finally we will examine the constitutional status of the US bases in Japan. The Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution says in its first part that the "Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes". It is based on the Treaty of 1928 on the renounciation of war and the Article 2(4) of the UN Charter. So there is not much new here. It is the second part that is really new, goes ahead of any other document even after nearly sixty-five years of its existence, and is looked up to by great many people in the world. It says that "In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized". Why there are the SDF in spite of the Article is another matter, to be looked into some other time.
The Security Pact, in its both versions, talks of Japan's inherent right of individual or collective self-defense. It does so in direct connection with the Article 51 of the UN Charter, without any reference to the Constitution. It is as if there are two conflicting legal systems side by side. The question is not whether Japan is able constitutionally to exercise her right of collective self-defense, in other words, to fight a war on the same side with the US. The answer is self-evident in terms of the Constitution. The point here is that the Constution is silent even on Japan's possessing the right of self-defense.
There was a Gubernatorial election in Okinawa, one of the Prefectures of Japan, an archipelago by itself, where three-fourths of US bases are concentrated, on 28 November. The US and Japan have long been agreed that the US base at Hutemma is in the midst of a dense residential district and be transferred to Henoko, another part of Okinawa, where a new base was to be built. Both the two main contenders were not in support of the transfer. In a debate which appeared in the Asahi newspaper on 5 November, Nakaima, the incumbent, said that the Security Pact was needed as deterrent, while Iha, the challenger, said that the US forces in Japan should be curtailed as the US bases are for fighting war over the globe, the Security Pact is useless for the security of Japan and had better be transformed into a Friendship Treaty, respecting the relations with China and others. As to the governmental plan to deploy SDF in the southwesternmost islands of Okinawa, near Senkaku which is disputed between Japan and China, Nakaima was of the view that the deployment was necessary to some extent but the residents should be well informed, while Iha said that no such step should be taken as the area is a rich fishing field where creating tension is most undesirable. Nakaima won by a narrow margin.