“Humans are wired to advance. Humans do whatever it takes. And yet, nuclear war zeroes it all out. Nuclear weapons reduce human brilliance and ingenuity, love and desire, empathy and intellect, to ash.” — Annie Jacobsen, Nuclear War: A Scenario
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It won’t take much brain cells and neurons firing away to see through the ruse—that the scaling up of anti-Chinese sentiment in Japan, leading to suggestions that the land of the rising sun abandon its pacifist stance in favor of a militaristic one, is being instigated by the United States.
From the time Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi crossed the red line last November when she said that Japan would consider it a threat to its national survival if China sent warships to take over Taiwan by force, the hawkish warmongering has not stopped.
In fact, recent pronouncements from Japanese war wishers have only exacerbated the narrative.
They are now urging Takaichi to throw all caution to the wind and make Japan the latest nuclear power in Asia.
The Japan Times reported recently that a senior adviser to Prime Minister Takaichi has expressed his personal opinion that Japan should have nuclear weapons.
Just like in the Philippines, such a bold and incendiary remark was quickly picked up by both social media and traditional media outlets, including Kyodo News, NHK, and the Asahi Shimbun. This triggered a cascade of debates, especially since the statement came at a sensitive time when both Japan and China are experiencing a surge in nationalist sentiment.
These reports surfaced ahead of the Japanese government’s crafting of a new defense strategy slated for 2026, mirroring the United States’ 2025 National Security Strategy released last November.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun acknowledged the gravity of the nuclear weapons suggestion, saying it exposed dangerous attempts by some Japanese figures to cross lines set by international law, particularly regarding Japan’s possession of nuclear arms.
Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara, however, offered some reassurance, stating that the government continues to uphold the Three Non-Nuclear Principles.
“Regarding the sharing of nuclear weapons, if it refers to the framework I mentioned earlier, the government considers this unacceptable in light of the Three Non-Nuclear Principles and Japan’s legal system, including the Atomic Energy Basic Law,” he said.
Takaichi herself remains non-committal and will most likely continue to adhere to the non-nuclear principles.
However, depending on how tensions with China evolve in the coming weeks, she has not yet confirmed whether Japan’s commitment to these principles will remain unchanged.
It is understandable why the issue of nuclear weapons is extremely sensitive among the Japanese public, with more than 80 percent of citizens supporting the country’s non-nuclear policy.
Japan remains the only nation to have suffered atomic bombings during World War II. More than 140,000 civilians and military personnel died in Hiroshima, while some 70,000 perished in Nagasaki after the United States dropped atomic bombs on the two cities. The devastation extended for years, as radiation exposure caused prolonged suffering and death.
Clearly, the Japanese people reject the notion of their country acquiring nuclear weapons—an idea largely pushed by the deep state and the military-industrial complex in the United States, which stands to profit from shifts in defense policy.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., as the chief architect of Philippine foreign policy, should closely monitor developments in Japan. The same United States interests are aggressively marketing modern missile systems and weapons to the Philippines—platforms capable of carrying nuclear warheads—an acquisition that runs counter to the 1987 Philippine Constitution.