A former U.S. seaman who deserted during the Vietnam War with the help of a Japanese pacifist group and fled to Sweden is visiting Japan for the first time in 50 years to deliver speeches nationwide.

During a recent lecture at Rikkyo University in Tokyo, Craig Anderson expressed concerns over what he called Japan's "remilitarization" as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pushes to revise the war-renouncing clause of the Constitution to establish the legality of the Self-Defense Forces.

In Kyoto, Anderson, 70, also told the audience of around 50 to take actions in accordance with their consciences to secure peace.