Newly appointed Defense Agency chief Gen Nakatani on Friday expressed opposition to reinterpreting the war-renouncing Constitution to allow Japan to engage in collective defense.
Nakatani holds to the view that the Constitution prohibits collective defense -- not using its forces to counter military aggression against its allies -- which has long been the government's position.
Such military action would be "beyond the minimum exercise of forces permitted by Article 9 of the Constitution," said Nakatani, 43, the first Ground Self-Defense Force veteran to become head of the Defense Agency.