Japan's Remilitarization, Passive Constitutional Amendment Discourse

This journal aims to observe the Japanese remilitarization plan of some elements of Japanese politics to amend the Pacifism constitution in article 9 related to military capabilities and the factors behind it. Japan's plan to amend Article 9 is a step that is considered important to make it easier for Japan to fulfil its national interests in the field of defence and security in the Pacific and East Asia regions. A qualitative approach is carried out to observe the facts that occur and is followed by using several concepts in analysing the phenomenon. The data collection technique that will be used is to find library research data. The perspective of Neorealism, the Concept of National Interest and Foreign Policy are used as the basis and direction to answer issues related to Japanese remilitarization and the discourse on the amendment of Article 9 of the Japanese Pacifism Constitution and the reasons behind the plan.


Introduction
During World War II, Japan was a very aggressive and confrontational state.
Its military invasion has spread to almost all Asia Pacific countries. With confrontational ways, Japan showed how its foreign policy was at that time, until finally on August 15, 1945, two important cities in Japan, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, were destroyed by the allied atomic bombs.
Japan's defeat in World War II was marked by the signing of the Japanese surrender agreement to the Allies, which was stated in the Potsdam Declaration on August 26, 1945. As a result, Japan had to accept the fact that its once proud military strength had to be disarmed by the Allied forces, which consisted mostly of soldiers.
United States of America. The United States took over the Japanese government system and Japan had to submit to the United States system, and also had to recognize the United States Navy General, Douglas Mac Arthur as the supreme commander of the Pacific Allied powers, as the occupation officer in Japan (Mardialina, 2013).
After Japan was conquered by America in World War II, Japan has carried out various reforms to transform itself from a state that has military power into a nonmilitary state. The reforms carried out, much influenced by America as the state that occupied Japan, were not limited only to the economic and social fields but also in the field of law. One of America's influences on legal reform was the amendment to the Japanese constitution.
In the pre-war period, the prevailing constitution was the Meiji Constitution which was considered one of the causes of aggression by Japan. The Meiji Constitution, is Japan's earliest basic law. The Meiji Constitution established a clear boundary between the executive power and the absolute power of the Emperor. In the Meiji Constitution, Tenno is the supreme ruler, and vassal in the cabinet, whose Prime Minister is to be elected by the Imperial Privy Council (Smitsu-in) which lasts until 1947 (Damartyas, 2018).
As a consequence of Japan's defeat in World War II. The United States drafted a new constitution for Japan to replace the Meiji constitution which was considered the cause of Japanese aggression. Japan based on the 1947 constitution changed its identity, especially in its national defense policy, namely the Pacifist constitution with a defense system focused on self-defense only. For world security, the United States also made changes to the provisions of the Japanese constitution which indicated that Japan would no longer develop military power in the future. The new constitution stipulates three basic principles, one of which emphasizes the peace-loving attitude of the Japanese state. To implement this principle, Article 9 of the 1947 Japanese constitution expressly mentions the prohibition of military use (Mardialina, 2013).
Based on article 9 of the 1947 Japanese constitution which states (Hook & McCormack, 2005): Article 9: (1) Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.
(2) In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized.
Based on article 9, Japan is not only not allowed to carry out acts of war in any form but is also not allowed to have military power in any form. However, since the beginning of the article, there have been efforts to make it open to reinterpretation to address the possibility of Japanese remilitarization if necessary in order to defend itself (Dower, 1999). The first amendment to article 9 made at the Diet session in establishing the constitution in 1946 by Hitoshi Ashida led to the addition of the phrase "In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph." This addition increasingly putting pressure on Japan. Japanese pacifism is shrinking with increasing threats to Japan's security. With this, amendments to the Passive Constitution and remilitarization began to be pursued by Japan.

2.1.Neorealism Perspective
The neorealism perspective is based on the same assumptions as realism, but differs in several postulates and prescriptions. For example, if the realism perspective believes that the state's actions are determined by its national interests and its actions in the international arena, then as developed by Kenneth Waltz (1992) the neorealism perspective believes that there is an international structure effect that affects state actions in it (Vinsensio Dugis, 2018). It can be said that the neorealism perspective has the basic assumption that the international system is anarchic without an authority that can set laws, the system affects the state as a rational actor (maximizing results and minimizing losses), making states selfish to survive. In addition, neorealists argue that the international system forces the state to formulate its foreign policy (Sinaga, 2007).
Based on the perspective of neorealism, it can be seen that Japan is aware of the anarchic situation of the international system. This situation poses various threats to Japan, such as North Korea launching ballistic missiles and conducting nuclear tests and China building military capabilities. Regional security conditions in Asia Pacific, especially East Asia, as a dynamic of the international system make Japan feel that its interests will be threatened if it does not take action to respond to the dynamics of the threat. So in order to survive, Japan sought to increase its strength as a way to protect itself. The Japanese government believes that remilitarization and amendments to the Pacific Constitution can be a strategy for Japan to minimize risks and maximize national defense in the military field.

2.2.National Interest Concept
The concept of national interest is very ambiguous, but it becomes very important in attempts to explain, define, predict or make prescriptions about international behavior. International relations scholars and practitioners unanimously agree that the primary justification for state action is the national interest (Couloumbis & Wolfe, 1986). National interest is defined as an effort to pursue power, where power is everything that can develop and maintain control of a state over other states, which can be done by use hard power or soft power. The national interest of a state can be realized by having the capability and in this journal it is focused on military capability.
According to Hans J. Morgenthau, the national interest of every state is the pursuit of power to gain the defense of one state over another. The national interest will be achieved through foreign policy, foreign policy is made based on the national interest to fulfil the needs of the state. After the World War II, Japan had limited military defense but Japan developed its strength in East Asia through its economy and technology. With its economic and technological capabilities, Japan can carry out its foreign policy to achieve Japan's national interests.

Foreign Policy Concept
The definition of foreign policy according to KJ Holsti is an idea or action created by policy makers to manage the policies, behavior, or actions of one or more countries, in the physical environment around the world. Holsti explains foreign policy as all actions and activities of the state towards its external environment in an  (Holsti, 1992).
External factors in foreign policy that influence the formulation of foreign policy include the structure of the characteristic system or the structure of the world economy, the actions of other actors, regional problems, international law, world opinion. Internal factors that influence the formulation of foreign policy are issues that are at the internal level of the state, while external factors are activities across national borders and are influenced by factors outside the state (Arifiyanto, 2013).
So it can be said, foreign policy is aimed at everything that is outside a state. By considering the internal conditions of a state, and also considering the external conditions of the state, namely the international system (Wibowo, 2015). Foreign policy can be in the form of a reaction to what is happening in the international system which in this journal refers to Japan's external environment, namely the Pacific and East Asia regions which are hit by security issues related to North Korea's nuclear weapons and the rise of the military in China.

Research Methodology
This journal uses qualitative research methods, namely research that does not use the calculation process and the power of numbers, but uses data descriptions. This journal describes the problem comprehensively by using the facts obtained and looking at the nature of the existing variables and examining the causal relationship between variables. The data collection technique uses library research techniques that come from book sources, or other media such as official and non-official reports, journals, or printed news such as newspapers and online news. North Korea has repeatedly done things that increase tensions in the Pacific region, the things North Korea did became a serious destabilizing factor for security, not only Japan but of the entire region and the international community. In particular regarding the nuclear and missiles that have been successfully developed by North Korea, coupled with provocative behavior such as pointing its missiles at Japan that has been carried out by North Korea, has posed a serious threat to Japan's national security.

4.1.Threat from North Korea
North Korea continues to strengthen its troops throughout the Korean Peninsula through defense of weapons with the principle of self-reliance, namely the principle of independence taken from the Juche ideology created by Kim Il Sung. Juche is defined as self-confidence and independence in meeting their own needs without being dependent on other countries. Juche is at the core of Kim Il Sung's political control (Lee & Cho, 2000).

Based on information from the Association to the Federation of American
Scientists (FAS), North Korea is a state with the lowest nuclear capacity compared to the eight other nuclear countries. However, over a long period of time North Korea's missile industry has grown more capable of extending the range of its missiles. The Nodong missile for example -has the ability to reach Japan which was successfully tested in 1994. North Korea also has a multi stage rocket with a range of 2500 km, named Taepodong 1 which was successfully tested in space in August 1998.
According to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). when a state builds facilities to maintain the security of its own state but will be considered a threat to other states (Holsti, 1992).

4.2.Threat from China
In 2010 China surpassed Japan's economy as the second fastest growing economy in the world, then China also showed increasing aggressiveness in maritime territorial claims in the East and South China Seas (Purwaka, 2018). This began to be considered by Japan as a threat to its national defense. Today, China is a very influential state politically, economically and militarily. The international community has recognized China's presence as a major player in the region with its active participation in the non-traditional security sector (Arifiyanto, 2013). However, what worries Japan is the According to Global Firepower, in 2018 China had a total army of 2,693,000 personnel, of which 2,183,000 were active soldiers and 510,000 were reservists.

Discourse on the Amendment of the Pacific Constitution
During the Cold War, Japan adopted an isolationist regional strategy in which Japan pursued economic progress while avoiding any political role in international security matters and Japan entrusted its role in international security matters to the United States. However, Japan's passivity on security issues became a question at the beginning of the post-Cold War era (Mardialina, 2013). Security threats in the East Asia Region are increasing. Based on the geographical environment, the so-called core countries in East Asia are Japan, China, South Korea and North Korea. Various problems that exist in East Asia, both those that are remnants of old problems and emerging political issues, contain many issues that are quite sensitive and can develop into disturbances to regional stability (Irsan, 2007).  (Laksono, 2018).
After reforming its foreign policy and especially with the reinterpretation of article 9, Japan changed civilian control over the military which was originally subjective civilian control into objective civilian control or civilian control through increasing military professionalism (Muhammad Fadilah & Sudirman, 2018). Japan no longer relies on Article 9 of the Passive constitution as the main instrument to determine the direction of its military so that this can be understood as an additional discourse in foreign policy studies. The Japanese Ministry of Defense in 2015, has increased the independence of the SDF to be able to act without the strict control of the Japanese civilian government as has happened in the past (Muhammad Fadilah & Sudirman, 2018).

Conclusion
In recent years, threats in the Pacific and East Asia have begun to increase, such as China's increasingly rapid military development and the threat of North Korea's nuclear development, so Japan wants to make its military offensive again by amending article 9 of the Pacific Constitution and increasing its military power.
Therefore, Japan changed its defense policy in 2013 in the National Defense Program Guidelines and changed the Defense Agency to the Ministry of Defense.
Japan approved a controversial law that could change their state's foreign policy in the field of security. This law change allowed the Japanese military to fight overseas for the first time since the Second World War. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has "forced" this revision by arguing that the law is essential to Japan's military doctrine of collective self-defense. After losing in the world war II, Japan's pacifist constitution states that military force cannot be used arbitrarily to resolve conflicts except for self-defense. Japan adheres to a passive military force. Shinzo Abe made