14 DAY TRIAL // Almost four decades of Japan using the space for non-military applications are about to end on Friday with the introduction of a bill said to give the military space access. The action came with the visit of the Chinese President Hu Jiantao, whose country shot down one of its weather satellites last year, spreading fear amongst the Japanese people. In 1969 the parliament introduced a resolution stating that Japan would only use space for peaceful, non-military operations.
The bill has not been voted by the lower house yet, but it is most certain that it will make it to the parliament, since the Liberal Democratic Prime Minister Yauo Fukuda and the main opposition Democratic Party support it. Bill promoters say that the restrictions imposed in 1969 were bad for Japanese companies and blocked innovation and that weapons would still be off limits in space. Practically, the Japanese lawmakers are trying to clear the way to building more advanced spy satellites, which are illegal under the old law.
"The bottom line of this bill is to stand on the principle of the peaceful use of space but for the government to use space technology to improve people's livelihoods", explained a Liberal Democratic Party official. The Communist Party on the other hand strongly believes that the bill should not pass the parliament.
Japan has one of the world's largest defense budgets, but it hasn't waged a war of aggression since 1945 simply because its post-World War II constitution does not permit it. In 1998, Japan began to expand military research after North Korea shot a missile passing over the Japanese mainland into the Pacific Ocean.
Last year, its neighbor, China, became the third country in the world ever to shoot down an object while in Earth's orbit. Japan is now operating one of the most advanced probes ever sent into the Moon's orbit, Kaguya, which is set to end its mission by the end of this year.