Japan has for the first time explicitly stated that it recognizes the need to develop space-based systems for military purposes. Japan’s Ministry of Defense, in its annual white paper on defense released July 17, has called for an expansion of the Japanese military’s capabilities, including the development of space for the purposes of national security, and further refined the definition of “self-defense” to give its newest direction legal justification.

Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution, imposed on Japan by the United States after World War ii, is also known as its peace clause. The article states that Japan renounces war as a sovereign right and bans settlement of intentional disputes through the use of force.

However, this has not prevented Japan from maintaining one of the world’s most advanced militaries in the name of self-defense. Each branch of its military force has the phrase “self-defense” in its official name—for example, the navy is called the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force.

With this new defense paper, the definition of self-defense just got wider for the Japanese. The paper states:

It is indeed difficult to guarantee national security purely by non-military means. Defense capability … provides the ultimate guarantee of a country’s security, and cannot be replaced by other means. … Therefore, the government has been strengthening its defense capabilities …. In addition to protecting Japan, defense capabilities have become increasingly important for international peace cooperation activities and other efforts to improve international security.

The arguments of self-defense and international peace are intended to pave the way for the future legal justification. This process made a gigantic leap in September 2007 when the Japanese prime minister established the Council of Reconstruction of a Legal Basis for Security to issue recommendations on issues related to the constitution and the right of self-defense.

The militarization of space is a good example of an area where Japan has changed its laws to align with its increasingly aggressive military stance.

Japan was the world’s fourth nation to launch a satellite into orbit when it put its first one up in 1970. For 40 years, Japan’s space program was legally limited to peaceful purposes. This hindered Japan’s space development, as it cut off military funding—which is a major sourcing of funding for other nations’ space programs—for its advancement. Article 9 made Japan utterly dependent on the U.S. in the area of reconnaissance satellites and missile defense. This weak position was highlighted when North Korea conducted its missile tests in July 2006. It was the U.S. Defense Support Program satellites that detected the missiles, not Japan.

With a nuclear aspirant in North Korea and a nuclear China next door, Japan’s constitution put it in a bind. Its legal constraints prevented it, at the time, from participating in the U.S. missile defense shield, and it caused Japan to become so far behind in operational technology that it couldn’t shoot a missile down if it wanted to.

When Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a strong proponent of changing Article 9, set up the Council on Reconstruction of a Legal Basis for Security, one of its four main tasks was to find whether it was appropriate for Japan to become capable in missile defense. The task was couched in the idea of defending the U.S. if North Korea shot a ballistic missile at it, but in effect Abe wanted to see if Japan could expand its space capabilities for its own military purposes.

Less than one year after the creation of the council, the Japanese parliament in May 2008 passed the Basic Space Law, which allowed “nonaggressive” military use of space. Now the military is ready to develop its capabilities.

The change in law was an important development for the Japanese military, and the defense paper highlights this shift in policy. In Section 4, titled “New Approaches to Space and Ocean,” the paper states: “With the drastic changes in the environment, specifically the enactment of the Basic Space Law, the Ministry of Defense has been deliberating on necessary measures, for example, about feasibility of development and utilization of space in the new security context ….”

The drastic change in the law will mean a drastic update for the military. Stratfor think tank writes (emphasis mine):

Developing space for military purposes—even “nonaggressively”—is difficult for a modern military to avoid, especially one that is deploying warships and maritime patrol aircraft halfway around the world to the waters off Somalia to conduct counterpiracy operations. Space, like airspace before it, has become an essential domain for military operations. From facilitating global communications to precision navigation to intelligence gathering, space-based assets have become as inescapable a part of modern warfare as the airplane.

The Trumpet has predicted for years that Japan would expand its military capabilities. The new direction the military is taking into space confirms these predictions. With Japan’s security guarantor, the U.S., declining in power and influence in the region, Japan is further developing its own already very capable, technologically advanced military. North Korea’s recent nuclear tests, combined with China’s advances in space, give Japan the perfect excuse to remove its legal restrictions and ramp up its space efforts.

The Eastern Asian arms race is just beginning. Japan’s military revival, as well as the gains made by North Korea and China, has serious implications for the world. To learn where this trend will lead, read our booklet Russia and China in Prophecy.