There are new frictions looming just over the horizon in U.S.-Japan relations, based mainly on the perceived growth of nationalist sentiment.
The main signal of this new mood was the appointment last month of a parliamentary panel to study the feasibility of amending Japan's U.S.-authored postwar "Peace Constitution."
There is no urgency to the controversial development, but it is significant in that such a proposal has never been officially sanctioned before. The timetable for a report is "three to five years," but there is no mandatory action called for after its completion.
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