On January 19th a small advance team of Japanese soldiers made tracks to Iraq's southern city of Samawah to begin fulfilling Japan's commitment to help bring peace and stability to that country. It marks the first time Japan has sent soldiers to an active war zone since 1945 when the US defeated Japan in WW II. It has been a long hard march for them to get there with many obstacles along the way. One obstacle in particular has been the Japanese Constitution. Drafted by the Americans during the US occupation of Japan, its Article 9 stipulates that the nation renounce war and forbids it from having a military force. Instead of a military, Japan maintains what it calls Self Defense Forces (SDF), which are constitutionally forbidden from leaving the country. In actuality the SDF are a military force in every aspect but name and rank as one of the largest in the world.

While most countries have avoided military duty in Iraq, the ruling coalition parities in Japan worked overtime during a marathon legislative session this past summer to pass a special law that would allow for the dispatch of the SDF to Iraq. Although Article 9 has up until now remained like a thumb in the dike to largely contain the SDF within the borders of this island nation. The Japanese press has described the Iraq SDF Dispatch Law as a "watershed" decision that could alter the future course of the country.

Critics say the law was passed merely to serve the interests of the US and severely undermines Japan's constitution. There is wide reference in the media to a claim that Washington urged Japan to send 1000 troops, quoting unidentified but supposedly high-level Washington sources as saying they wanted to see "2000 boots on the ground."

Opponents of the US pre-emptive war on Iraq have viewed the cozy relationship between the Administration of Prime Minister Koizumi and the Bush Administration with caution. Despite overwhelming public opposition to the war, the Japanese government fully endorsed the US plan for a pre-emptive attack. Last year Koizumi enjoyed a coveted invitation to stay at President Bush's Texas ranch, widely viewed as a gesture of thanks for Japan's support of the US led war on Iraq. Japanese newspapers at the time were plastered with images of the two smiling leaders, Prime Minister Koizumi riding shotgun to President Bush at the wheel of a pickup truck. It's a position many political pundits in Japan believe the US wants Japan to take up permanently. They believe the US wants to mold Japan in the shape of a Britain of the East, a loyal junior partner that will back up US foreign policy in the region by any means necessary including military force.

In an interview with the progressive weekly news magazine, Shukan Kinyobi, Japanese parliament (the Diet) member, Hideo Den of the opposition Social Democratic Party, suggested that today's Japanese neocons relish the idea of the SDF being put in harms way. Claiming that the Iraq SDF Dispatch bill was a move toward further Constitutional reforms that will erase Article 9, he told Shukan Kinyobi that they want SDF members to get used to facing death.

"They want the public to get used to their dying as well."

There is widespread public concern in Japan for the safety of the troops dispatched to Iraq. Two Japanese civilian envoys were killed in Iraq late last year. If any troops were to be killed or if they were to be involved in the death of an Iraqi, it would be the first time such an incident occurred since WWII. More than 50% of Japanese people, according to a recent Kyodo news poll, oppose sending the SDF to Iraq. On Sunday, January 25th thousands of protestors gathered in Tokyo's Hiibiya Park to voice their opposition to the SDF dispatch. The following day, Prime Minister Koizumi signed off on orders that give the green light for sending up to one thousand troops to Iraq. In his Reminiscences, Douglas Macarthur referred to the Japanese Constitution as the "most important accomplishment of the occupation." That foundation of peace built during the allied occupation of Japan now seems to have given way under the pressure of more conservative elements within Japan's ruling coalition government. Many believe, now that Japanese soldiers' boots have touched Iraqi soil, Japan's war-renouncing constitution, carefully crafted and put into place after WWII, in effect has been laid to rest, another casualty of the war. Perhaps equally disquieting is the fact that Japanese and US leaders have marked its passing only with a smile.

--John Cassidy lives in Yokohama, Japan and is a member of Tsurumi Peace Link, a small community-based organization dedicated to world peace.