Not to piss on anyone's parade, but... (Score 1)

1. This story is at least a few weeks late, Abe has been talking about this crap for a while, and nobody cares. 2. Without changing the constitution, they can build up the "self defense" army more. Every country says their army is for self defense anyway. 3. I seriously doubt he has the backing to actually amend the constitution. 4. The real reason for the Senkaku island dispute is not oil, but this: The territory of a country is basically defined as xx miles from the farthest out land. Having those islands under Japanese control extends Japan's territory quite a bit - and that includes keeping outsiders farther away from places where the u.s. army has set up camp. So not only Japan, but the US has a vested interest in keeping those islands just for the ocean territory they can claim with them. Japan's economy has been "bad" lately, so people don't want to spend more on things they don't have to. ("bad" means in comparison to the 80s bubble... I still see all of the bars and restaurants full every single night ...)