Every year since 1947 and 1955, respectively, on August 6 and 9, Japan solemnly commemorates the nuclear devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. These anniversaries witness reflection, remembrances, and renewed appeals for nuclear disarmament. Survivors of the bombings, political leaders, and international representatives gather for memorial ceremonies and recall the catastrophic consequences of nuclear warfare.

The 2026 anniversaries come at a time of strategic transition. Japan’s security environment has deteriorated significantly, raising a fundamental question: Are Japan’s responses to these challenges altering its pacifist identity?

Since the end of World War II, Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution embodied the country’s renunciation of war as an instrument of national policy.

Also read | When broadcasting was committed to public good

Japan relied on the US for conventional and nuclear protection while concentrating its own resources on economic reconstruction. The Self-Defence Forces (SDF), established in 1954, were carefully presented as defensive forces rather than instruments of military projection.

That framework is now under strain. North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes, China’s rapid military modernisation and growing assertiveness around the East China Sea, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its expanding naval activities in the Pacific, together with growing uncertainty about the long-term American commitment to regional security, have combined to produce perhaps the most significant reassessment of Japanese defence policy since 1945.

Also read | Evolved procurement key to........

© hindustantimes