Japan's Nuclear Debate: To Be Continued?

Six days after North Korea’s October 9 nuclear test, Shoichi Nakagawa, the policy chief of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), declared in a television appearance that Japan should discuss the nuclear option. Foreign Minister Taro Aso echoed these sentiments a few days later, just as Condoleezza Rice arrived in Tokyo to reaffirm the U.S. commitment to the nuclear umbrella. Predictably, Nakagawa and Aso sparked a controversy in the only country to have suffered a nuclear attack. Surprisingly, recent public opinion polls reveal some interest in a nuclear debate despite steadfast support for a longstanding government stance against nuclear armament. The public’s willingness to juxtapose these seemingly incongruous positions could signal increased sympathy for the notion that such a colloquy is in Japan’s national interests.