Calls are rising — particularly from within the government and the ruling coalition — to beef up security measures in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris. During special Diet discussions, held right before the deadly attacks, while the legislature was not in an official session, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe mentioned the idea of giving the government emergency powers during crises as a theme on which to amend the Constitution. This raises concerns that the latest terrorist incident may serve as a convenient pretext for Abe to push his agenda of constitutional revision.

One thing is clear — the government bears the burden of proof to demonstrate that any anti-terrorism measures it comes up with would deter terrorist activities. Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Sadakazu Tanigaki preaches the necessity of making the act of conspiracy a crime. But he does not explain how that would prevent terrorist attacks. Abe would likely be unable to give a convincing explanation of why changing the Constitution to give the government massive powers to respond to a situation that it defines as an emergency would contribute to protecting the public safety.

What I would like to know is whether the police, which were incapable of preventing the terror attacks launched by the Aum Shinrikyo cult 20 years ago, have reflected on their shortcomings and improved their operations. In 2010, internal police documents concerning a probe into the affairs of Muslim residents of Japan that falsely determined that some of them were terror suspects were leaked on the Internet. Is it certain that such sloppy intelligence operations would never be repeated? There is a risk that the terrorist attacks in Europe will be used as an excuse by Japan's authoritarian lawmakers and police bureaucrats to expand their powers.