Recent comments by leading Japanese politicians have raised international concern about Tokyo's nuclear intentions. Those fears are misplaced: Japan's nuclear taboo remains as powerful as ever. The comments do signal growing frustration within Japan's policy community over the need for a long-delayed debate on national security. Just as important is what the reaction reveals: the international community's lack of faith in Japanese democracy.

For half a century, Japan has successfully sidestepped serious debate on national security. The Peace Constitution, handed down by the Occupation authorities, and the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty provided a ready-made policy framework that permitted this indulgence. Fears of the strains such a debate would create -- fears borne out by the riots that greeted the treaty's extension in 1960 -- encouraged Japanese leaders to indulge.

The end of the Cold War forced Japan to acknowledge that new thinking is in order. The first inklings followed the Persian Gulf War, when Japan's $13 billion contribution earned it ridicule rather than respect. Despite hopes for a new world order, Northeast Asia seems to be a more dangerous place since the demise of the Soviet Union. The 1996 Taiwan Strait crisis, North Korea's 1998 missile test and periodic violations of Japanese waters by unidentified spy boats have forced many in Japan to challenge assumptions about security policy. As a result, there is a more realistic approach to security thinking in Japan.