Military history of Japan maintains a powerful defense force today, its Constitution, originally drawn under the guidelines of General Douglas MacArthur in 1945, formally renounces war and the use of military force in aggressive ways. Japan also maintains a policy against the exporting of military hardware. In September 2015, the Liberal Democratic Party under the leadership of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, reinterpreted the Constitution, allowing Japan to use military force in assistance of its allies. The legality of these changes has been questioned by many academics and citizens. From 1867, Japan requested various Western military missions in order to help Japan to modernize its
Sanji Abe Abe became the first American of Japanese ancestry to be elected to Hawaii's territorial senate; he ran from the South Hilo district as a Republican. His dual citizenship of the U.S. and Japan became a hotly discussed issue during his election campaign. His citizenship issues first came to public attention in early October; soon afterwards, Abe announced that he would be renouncing his Japanese citizenship. He received confirmation of his expatriation on November 2. The intersection of Abe's ancestry and rise to prominence set him up for negative attention from the US Army's Hawaii sub-command; he was arrested on August