Ousted Air Self-Defense Force Chief of Staff Gen. Toshio Tamogami appeared Tuesday before the Diet and defended his contentious justification of Japan's wartime past and upped the ante by calling for the Constitution to be amended to unfetter the military and allow the nation to engage in collective self-defense.
Tamogami, 60, who was sacked Oct. 31 after he won an essay contest with an entry that justifies Japan's wartime role and past colonial rule, reiterated his revisionist stance and made the controversial remarks regarding the Constitution while giving unsworn testimony before the Upper House Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense.
"There should be opinions that see Japan as a country of good will, but I was dismissed for expressing such thoughts in my essay," he said. "Does that mean we must see Japan as a formidable foe?