ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts to provide better clarity of the drivers, substance and implications regarding a watershed package of security legislation passed by Japan in September 2015. It argues that while the legislation is significant, it does not amount to radical change in Japanese security policies. Instead, it amounts to incremental change. This is because the legislation remains firmly rooted in continuity as established by the parameters within which Japanese security debates take place. These parameters consist of three main normative pillars with legal importance: Article Nine of Japan’s constitution, the prohibition on integration with the use of force (buryoku koshi to no ittaika) and a principle called senshu boei (exclusively defense-oriented). This results in Japan’s Self-Defense Forces being able to legally assume a slightly larger security role in the context of the alliance and regional security, but under strict limitations. While the legislation is significant in aiding the evolution of Japan’s security policies, it is far from as radical as the legislation’s critics have portrayed. Conversely, it is far more limiting than its supporters initially hoped.
