Basically, Article 9 of the Japanese constitution says that the Japanese people forever surrender the right of a sovreign nation to maintain offensive military capability. I'm paraphrasing, of course, but that's essentially the way it's written, courtesy of Gen. Douglas McArthur. We can--and many people have--argue endlessly over what does and does not constitute offensive military capability. Some, to include many Japanese, consider any form of military force offensive in nature. Others, particularly members of the different branches of JSDF, feel that there must be some flavor of offensive in order to gain full defensive benefit from a military force. I happen to agree with the latter school of thought.
As far as as the JSDF is concerned, Brett is completely correct: They're consumate professionals. I've worked with them many times while stationed in Iwakuni, and I did a brief, 6 week exchange program with them after graduating from college. I spent 3 of those weeks as a JMSDF candidate, and spent the last 3 teaching English at their National Defense Academy, which is kind of like West Point, Annapolis, and Colorado Springs, all rolled into one. I have nothing but positive things to say about the experience and the people, but I'll keep the love-fest to a minimum.
Will the Japanese constitution ever change? Eventually, I think that it will, but if they want to change it, Japan will have to build some bridges prior to doing so. Mainly, they're going to have to publicly apologize for atrocities they committed in WW2. But by doing so, they're going to have to acknowledge that they did anything wrong at all. That in itself would go a long way into smoothing things over with some of the nations they messed with.
Their warrior culture is certainly an interesting topic.
