How Japan Circumnavigated Their Ban on Aircraft Carriers (And Now Have Two)

Some legal wrangling and an appetite for military spending

(By 海上自衛隊, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=109543252)

When Japan lost World War II, it was instructed to write a new constitution following the war. In order to prevent the Japanese people from ever again setting their eyes upon the territories of their Asian neighbors, the new constitution forbade Japan from having an “offensive” military. Instead, they were only allowed to have a defensive force. To this day, the Japanese military is known as the Japanese Self Defense Force or JSDF. While efforts have been made to amend the Japanese constitution to allow for a more robust military, these efforts have faced a constant uphill battle.

There has been a lot of debate about what constitutes a defensive military and what weapons systems are considered “offensive.” Article 9 of the Japanese constitution renounces any right to pursue offensive actions against another sovereign nation and outlaws war as a means for settling international disputes. This clause was put into place because, in the past, Japan had used international incidents as an excuse to pursue military actions against its rivals. This course of action was taken against China and Korea, as well as Soviet interests in Manchuria, before World War II.