On June 4, a Lower House constitution study panel heard testimony from three scholars of constitutional law on the legislative bills now before the Diet for greatly expanding the roles of the Self-Defense Forces outside Japan, thus leading to drastically changing Japan's security policies. One of them — Waseda University professor Yasuo Hasebe — was recommended by the governing coalition. All three expressed the view that the bills are unconstitutional.
At a subsequent press conference, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga countered by saying there are many constitutional scholars who say the bills are not unconstitutional.
On the following day, Defense Minister Gen Nakatani told a Lower House special committee deliberating on those bills that they do not constitute a violation of the Constitution — in answering questions posed by Kiyomi Tsujimoto of the Democratic Party of Japan. But when she asked about the criteria for the use of force by the SDF, Nakatani went no further than saying the government will pass its judgment in accordance with the distinct and concrete circumstances of an event that actually will have happened.
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