News Analysis: Abe forces nation closer to militarization despite mass public railing

In a move that has undermined the credibility of the government of Japan and caused analysts, scholars and the public to call into question the relevance of the nation's supreme law and validity of the country's democratic fundamentals, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has now put the nation on a path towards militarization by bulldozing unlawful security bills through the lower house of parliament on Thursday.

Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party-led coalition under the hawkish stewardship of Abe rammed the controversial security bills, that will allow for the scope of Japan's Self-Defense Forces (SDF) to be widely expanded in the biggest security shift in the nation' s post-war history, through parliament's lower chamber, despite the Democratic Party of Japan, the Japan Innovation Party and the Japanese Communist Party, as well as other smaller opposition parties, boycotting the vote in protest.

Opposition lawmakers walked out of parliament en mass in a show of protest to the autocratic way in which Abe and his administration has once again forced war-related bills through Japan's most powerful house of parliament and in doing so eroded the public's faith in the government, hollowed out the constitution which renounces war and prohibits Japan's SDF from exercising the right to collective self-defense and made a mockery of the nation's democratic ideals.

"The security shift that has been almost single-handedly orchestrated by prime minister Abe is a regressive move by the ruling bloc that has caused outrage from citizens across Japan who feel that the government has acted in an oppressive way that it reminiscent of Japan's pre-war military leadership," political analyst Teruhisa Muramatsu told Xinhua.

"The latest series of protests around the Diet building which are likely to continue and gather momentum as the opposition parties now look to the public and will rally more support to try and prevent the bills being enacted into law in the upper house, are evidence of just how betrayed the public feel," Muramatsu said.

The renown political watcher added that the vast majority of citizens in Japan hold very dear the country's pacifist ideology and have always regarded the constitution and its war-renouncing Article 9 as an honorable commitment to peace, following the country's blighted war-related history and the atrocities involved.

He further explained that the consensus among the public as well as his own political insiders is that if the constitution can be "reinterpreted" at will by the Cabinet and not by public mandate, then the possibility of similar moves in the future to further expand the role of the SDF could eventually lead to Japan fully normalizing its military.

And while the protests by opposition lawmakers in parliament earlier Thursday may have been more nuanced, the overwhelming concord among opposition parties regarding the constitution and the rejection of remilitarization, coupled with the forcible way the ruling bloc has handled the security legislation, is principally the same.

"Katsuya Okada, the leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, summed up the resounding feeling in the opposition camp, when he blasted the ruling coalition after the vote today for bulldozing the bills and said it was done out of a sense of frustration because, ultimately, Abe and the ruling camp knew that no matter how long the bills were debated in parliament, the public would never approve them. Hence, they were steamrolled through the lower house, by the coalition's majority," Asian affairs commentator Kaoru Imori told Xinhua.

"But as I've said before, Japan is in a codependent defense relationship with the U.S and Abe had already given his assurances to Washington that Japan could become a more proactive defense ally, long before he had his own cabinet's approval, as the U.S. postures it's defense strategy towards the Pacific region. What we 've seen today is a culmination of Abe's pride and legacy-driven bid to remilitarize Japan and pressure for Japan to live up to the U.S.'s expectations," said Imori.

He went on to explain that while deliberations would now continue in the upper house ahead of the bills' enactment, all discussions would be largely empty or inconsequential on the part of the ruling coalition, as they're merely gesturing for as much public support as they can muster before the end of the extended diet session in September.

"The upper house needn't take any action, in which case the vote will go back to the lower house where Abe's coalition also hold a majority, so it's a question of when, not if, the security legislation will become law," Imori added.

Abe told reporters after the vote Thursday that he was intent on proceeding with "deep debate" in the upper house and was committed to gaining further understanding from the public, but it would seem that such hollow words, all heard before, are too little, too late.

Abe may indeed see his political legacy of remilitarizing Japan come to fruition, but, as experts attest, it will be at the cost of his public support, which has taken a nosedive following his latest belligerent moves.

"Although numbers have dropped today because of the typhoon, demonstrators amassed outside the Diet building from morning until night on Wednesday, when the bills were shoved through the lower house's special committee, in a showing of ardent opposition to the path that Abe is leading Japan," said Muramatsu.

He added that demonstrations of the size and level of passion as have been seen recently are something of a rarity in Japan and haven't been seen on such a scale since the sixties.

"The public are finally fully awake and aware of what's going on in government and they don't like it and are now prepared to take action and this action will likely swell, and, while it may not alter the course of the war bills, or Abe's war-driven disposition, it should show the United States and the rest of the world that Japan, as a nation, is hugely discontent and exasperated over the issue," Muramatsu concluded. Endi