The bad news is that the Japanese government wants to send troops to Iraq. Tokyo's rush into overseas military involvements is far stronger than anyone would have imagined possible even a few years ago.
The good news is that this time Tokyo has probably gone too far. In its efforts to legitimize an overseas role for its Self-Defense Forces, it has chosen an area that will probably rival the Vietnam War in brutality, moral ambiguity and ultimate defeat. If Japan's volatile public opinion reacts negatively, those efforts could well turn to dust.
Thirty years ago even the sending of military attaches to work at Japanese embassies abroad was seen as a breach of Japan's "peace" Constitution. But through skillful use of a Japanese technique called "nashi-kuzushi" -- the gradual whittling down of principled opposition by creating precedents -- even the sending abroad of entire military units, complete with weapons and aircraft, is now supposed to be seen as quite normal.