Behind Japan’s pacifism hides a nuclear escape hatch

Behind Japan’s pacifism hides a nuclear escape hatch

Japan transformed from an expansionist military power to a pacifist state within a decade after World War II, adopting a firmly non-nuclear posture after suffering atomic bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Yet Japan possesses one of the most advanced civilian nuclear infrastructures in the world, technically capable of creating nuclear weapons.As debates in the United States intensify over alliance commitments and burden-sharing, questions abou…