Defining a ‘normal’ country: Japan’s long struggle between pacifism and the threats of a new era

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When Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi visited the White House in March, she reportedly told US President Donald Trump that Japan could not send forces to help secure the Strait of Hormuz due to limits under the country’s constitution.

Article 9 of Japan’s constitution renounces war and says the country will not maintain military forces for the purpose of settling international disputes. Since 1947, it has been the centrepiece of Japanese pacifism.