Should Japan re-arm?

[Ignacio Upton]

NKorean nuclear test to push Japan down military path

2 hours, 12 minutes ago

TOKYO (AFP) -
North Korea's announcement that it has tested a nuclear bomb is set to push Japan to expand its own military and stir debate on what was once the ultimate taboo of developing atomic weapons itself.
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The test comes as Japan gradually expands its defense posture, 60 years after it was defeated in World War II and forced by the United States to renounce the right to a military.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who took office just two weeks ago, is a sworn hawk on North Korea who has long supported a larger role for Japan's military alongside its ally the United States.

Analysts expect North Korea's test to boost the hand of Abe, who wants to rewrite the pacifist 1947 constitution and allow Japanese troops to engage in overseas operations alongside allies.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061009/wl_asia_afp/nkoreanuclearweaponsjapanoutlook_061009033301

...I'm worried that a rearmed Japan could provoke future instability in Asia, as Abe even supports whitewashing his country's war crimes during World War II. OTHO, I'm more worried about North Korea, because unlike CHina, which trades extensively with other Asian countries, NK is walled off and led by a deranged leader with could care less about the world.