NOTE: This is an abridged version of a proposal on defense issues made by a group of Japanese activists and intellectuals in response to the proposed law on emergencies in areas surrdunding Japan.

After the end of the Cold War, the U.S. and Japanese governments took on the task of reviewing their security alliance, producing a set of new guidelines. These led to the proposed "Law for Emergencies in Areas Surrounding Japan;" which, drawn up according to those guidelines and currently being debated in the Diet, attacks the pacifism embodied in Japan's Constitution.

Two things stand out in the new proposals. Both arise from the ambiguity of the term "emergencies in areas surrounding Japan," which is the core concept of the bill.