Japan’s military posturing raises alarm in Asia as Abe reconsiders pacifist constitution

A series of little-noticed moves has given new momentum to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s push to revise the nation’s pacifist constitution, potentially allowing Japan’s military to use offensive force against other nations for the first time since World War II.

The latest shift came last week when the prime minister’s hawkish new defense minister said the military had begun training for new missions overseas such as U.N. peacekeeping deployments, roughly a month after Mr. Abe himself had declared a reinterpretation of Japan’s existing constitution to allow Japanese forces for the first time in decades to come to the defensive aid of allies under attack.

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