After Japan wreaked some of the worst brutality in history and then surrendered in World War II, nations were eager to ensure that would never happen again. First came Article 9, the clause America wrote into Japan’s postwar constitution that restricts the nation from building a military any larger than it needs for the self-defense of its immediate geographic arena. Then came the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan, which, among other things, codified Japan’s dependence on the U.S. for its defense.

Now, six decades later, this military cooperation pact is undergoing big changes. As a result, for the first time since World War II, Japan could soon officially have first-strike capabilities against potential threats and be allowed to engage in collective self-defense.

Many U.S. policymakers say it is wise for Washington to encourage Tokyo to take on a more assertive military posture in Asia. After all, North Korea is a loose cannon, China is increasingly belligerent and the war-weary American people are tired of policing every corner of the world.

But these changes have profound implications, both historically and prophetically.

What’s the Big Deal?

On October 3, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Secretary of State John Kerry met with their Japanese counterparts in Tokyo to discuss their two nations’ security pact. While Washington has called all previous meetings about the pact, Japan asked for this one.

During the meeting, Japanese officials deployed plenty of the usual rhetoric about wanting America to keep ensuring security in Asia. Afterward, however, the Japanese said they’ll foot a $3.1 billion bill to help move 9,000 American troops out of Okinawa. Japan wants to break free of the U.S. military; this is just one of many steps it will take toward that end.

Tokyo’s true purpose for the conference was to work toward expanding its own military role. A joint statement afterward said Japan is “reexamining the legal basis for its security including exercising its right of collective self-defense, expanding its defense budget, reviewing its National Defense Program Guidelines, strengthening its capability of defending its sovereign territory” and more. The U.S., the statement said, “welcomed” all these efforts.

Before the meeting, an unnamed Pentagon source said the two sides would also “start the process for reviewing” a lift on the ban that outlaws Japan’s first-strike capabilities. Although statements released after the meeting made no mention of lifting that, the wheels of this monumental change may well be in motion.

Is there anything wrong with America letting Japan expand its military power so it can help look after U.S. interests in the region? Isn’t Japan a reliable, trustworthy, peaceful nation? For the answer, consider why Article 9 was written again. Many nations, particularly among Japan’s neighbors that experienced the war that gave birth to Japan’s pacifist constitution, view a rearming Japan with deep anxiety rooted in history.

For decades, that history has restrained Japan from being overly bold or open in its military activities. Now, however, three factors make Japan less concerned about appeasing those who fear a revival of its militaristic nationalism: Japan’s dwindling faith in America’s security promises; its rising tensions with China and the Koreas; and its desire to be viewed as a world power in its own right, complete with the ability to defend its national interests.

These factors have caused Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and other nationalists to intensify efforts to redefine Japan’s military as a full-fledged force. “I will do my best for the future and for amending the constitution. That is my historical mission,” Abe said in August. The October 3 conference showed that America is ready to help Abe achieve this “historical mission.”

But if the restrictions are lifted, would Japan behave responsibly? Are the new generations of leaders and citizens repentant over the nation’s past atrocities? Have the Japanese changed?

Massacre? What Massacre?

Tokyo has apologized for instigating aggressive wars, but the apologies have been regularly undercut by revisionist statements from top politicians.

“The Nanjing Massacre is a lie made up by the Chinese,” Japanese Cabinet Minister Shintaro Ishihara said in 1990. “The Nanjing Massacre is a fabrication,” Japanese Justice Minister Nagano Shigeto said in 1994. “The Americans brainwashed the postwar Japanese into believing they had committed terrible war crimes,” said Tokyo University Prof. Nobukatsu Fujioka in 1997.

In 2007, Mr. Abe wrote a newspaper article saying there is no evidence that the Japanese had kept sex slaves. Last year, the governor of Tokyo said the soldiers’ practice of keeping slaves was “necessary,” and “a good means of making money” for the women.

This year, Abe proposed scrapping several key government statements that Japan made in the ’80s and ’90s acknowledging its atrocities.

Is this just a handful of extremist politicians? Abe’s favorable rating among the Japanese public fluctuates between 60 and 70 percent and has been described as “stratospheric.” Domestic media seem unperturbed by his revisionist statements.

Textbooks used in Japan’s school system are notorious for glossing over or ignoring the country’s wartime barbarism. Some fear that since Japanese students aren’t learning this history, the nation is forgetting its past and new generations could be likelier to repeat it. Mr. Abe has addressed this, saying that he wants to further beautify Japan’s wartime history so Japanese children can be proud of their past!

The people of Japan embody many exceptionally noble traits. Their cultural and technological contributions have enriched the human experience for millions around the globe, and they have the same incredible potential that God gave to all human beings. But a dangerous number of modern Japanese view their nation’s wartime atrocities with pride. The history is being downplayed, and their potential for brutality remains.

The Secret

Gen. Douglas MacArthur and the U.S. officials who wrote Japan’s constitution were experienced and world wise. If they were around today, they would recognize Japan’s shifting tides and take action to reverse them. But, as the Prophet Isaiah wrote, American leaders today act like children (Isaiah 3:4). The biblical name for the United States is Manasseh, which in Hebrew means forgetful. Those leading America today are living up to this name: Like children, they are destitute in experience and forgetful even about very recent history.

As the U.S. snubs history, turns inward and ignores geopolitical shifts, the barriers established to prevent another world war are being systematically dismantled.

A Savage History

In the 1920s, Japan’s economy was stagnating. For inspiration, nationalist leaders dusted off some ancient myths and began teaching the Japanese that they were a nation of gods and that Japan’s Imperial Family was the offspring of the sun goddess Amaterasu. They said Emperor Hirohito was the “Son of Heaven” -- an omnipotent god destined to rule the whole world. “The nations of the world will come to look up to our Emperor as the Great Ruler of all nations,” the Tanaka Memorial of 1927 said.

The Tanaka Memorial (a document allegedly presented to Hirohito by Premier Baron Gi-ichi Tanaka) essentially became Japan’s foreign policy from 1927 until the end of World War II. Although the authenticity of the document is a matter of dispute, history shows that Japan followed the broad strokes of its strategy. It laid out detailed military plans for Japan to conquer the entire world starting with China: “With China’s entire resources at our disposal we shall conquer India, Central Asia and Europe.…A victorious Japan will place all the white races of the world under the rule of the Son of Heaven.…In order to conquer the world, we must first conquer China. If we succeed in conquering China, the rest of the Asiatic countries and the South Sea countries will fear us and surrender to us.”

A lot hinged on the conquest of China. Japan wanted this to inspire fear throughout Asia. So its invasion was ruthless beyond words.

In the Massacre of Nanjing, for example, Japanese troops murdered over 200,000 Chinese civilians. Mothers with infants, pregnant women, children and old men were tortured, bayonetted, beheaded, burned or buried alive. Many women and girls were gang-raped, mutilated and killed. Others were kept around as “comfort women” -- sex slaves forced to serve Japanese soldiers. Unborn babies were routinely torn out from pregnant women and killed. Soldiers often gouged the eyes out of children and babies in front of their mothers before slaughtering both woman and child.

These weren’t soldiers running amok, ignoring orders. The crimes were well known to the military’s highest officers. The chief commander of the Nanjing invasion was Emperor Hirohito’s uncle. The evils were committed with the royal stamp of approval for the purpose of instilling fear in the nations.

Nanjing was not an isolated case of savagery. Japanese troops were similarly cruel in numerous other Chinese cities and also in Korea, the Philippines, Singapore and other countries. A look further back into history shows that World War ii was not an anomalously aggressive epoch for the Japanese. There were also the invasions of Korea in the 1590s, the Battle of Ganghwa, the First Sino-Japanese War, the invasion of Taiwan, the Russo-Japanese War, and the list goes on.

During World War ii, the ruthlessness and tenacity of the Japanese was largely driven by their belief that Hirohito was a god destined to rule the world. The toxicity of this faith made many virtually incapable of surrendering -- even in the face of insurmountable odds.

Although some Japanese were taken prisoner, the majority fought until they were killed or committed suicide. The fanatic commitment spread even to Japanese civilians. This was perhaps most evident when American troops moving onto Saipan in June 1944 saw mothers clutching infants flinging themselves off cliffs rather than risk being captured.

By war’s end, Japan had been fighting for 14 years. Almost 3 million Japanese were dead, with many more injured or gravely ill. The nation lay in ruins. But even then, nothing short of two atomic bombs was able to bring a halt to Japan’s perverse military fanaticism.

It was then, in the immediate aftermath of that gruesome history that U.S. officials drafted Japan’s constitution, most famous for Article 9.

“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. [L]and, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained,” the article says.

This document, without the change of even a comma, has technically governed Japanese affairs in the decades since. To avoid stirring fears of a resurgence in the militarism that terrorized the world, postwar Tokyo has relied on Washington for security guarantees.

Now, however, 70 years have passed, and memories have dimmed.

(Be sure to read our articles, The Coming War With Japan!; Is Japan Going Nuclear? and Japan's Destiny -- Yet to Be Fulfilled?)

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