Report: Japan Destined to Obtain Nukes

“Japan is destined to have nuclear weapons,” claimed a National Interest report earlier this month. “[I]t really does not have a choice.”

The piece cites several reasons for this claim:

• “[N]uclear China is an ever expanding menace.”
• Nuclear North Korea “has a growing arsenal of nuclear weapons and shows no signs of tempering its hostility toward its neighbors.”
• “[T]he American ‘nuclear umbrella’ that allowed [Japan] so many years of peace and prosperity … is increasingly frayed, probably irreparably.”

Japanese author Barry Gewen said that third reason was the largest.

America unreliable: As the only nation to suffer a nuclear attack, Japan’s populace has largely opposed nuclear weapons. Even when China tested its first nuclear weapon in 1964, Japan maintained its stance, drawing closer to its American ally and its nuclear bombs.

But recent years have only displayed American weakness. Japan realizes it can no longer depend on Washington.

Gewen wrote:

[T]he larger question for Tokyo is how reliable an ally Washington would be if the dispute developed into a full-scale crisis. Would Americans be willing to shed blood for dots in the ocean they have never heard of? Examples like Ukraine offer no comfort.

Nuclear Japan: Those who remember the nuclear detonations of World War ii are dying out. Younger generations are much more supportive of a nuclear Japan.

Late U.S. diplomat Henry Kissinger said in April, “[The Japanese have] a pretty clear view of where they’re going; they’re heading towards becoming a nuclear power in five years.”

In 1971, when Japan was staunchly pacifistic, Herbert W. Armstrong predicted that it would eventually remilitarize to become a “force of very great power very rapidly.” That is now happening before our eyes, and it could soon take on a nuclear dimension. Mr. Armstrong based his bold prediction on Bible prophecy.

Learn more: Read our Trends article “Why the Trumpet Watches Japan’s March Toward Militarism.”