Japan’s quiet successor vows to restore army

Shinzo Abe is planning a revolution in Japan which will see the return of a full-strength imperial army for the first time since the Second World War. After securing the Liberal Democratic Party’s presidency last week, he is now certain to succeed Junichiro Koizumi as prime minister, and he clearly has an eye on re-examining the post-war era.

What’s the matter over there? With the ChiComs’ military surging, and the North Koreans shooting missiles over Japan, one would think that Nippon is losing faith in the US shield. Wonder why? Couldn’t be the libDonk anti-war claque over here, could it? Say it ain’t so!

Instead, he spoke of revising the United States-imposed Constitution, which forbids Japan from having a full-fledged military, passing legislation to allow Japanese troops to be deployed overseas and making it possible for Japan to exercise the right to collective self-defence with the US. He also wants to revise the other legal document of the post-war American occupation, the Fundamental Law of Education, and emphasise moral values, patriotism and tradition in schools.

One hopes that the New Model Imperial Army comes up with something of better quality than their sorry Arisaka front-line rifles of WWII. No doubt they will.