HONOLULU — It is an item of faith for many Japanese — and many Japan watchers — that their country will never build or acquire nuclear weapons. Japan's nonnuclear status, a product of both the searing experience of August 1945 and a calculation of the strategic value of nuclear weapons, has been a pillar of the nation's postwar political identity. But recent developments could force Japan to reconsider the nuclear option. The United States must engage Japanese decision-makers in a discussion of their security concerns and work to allay them. Failure to do so could push Tokyo over the nuclear brink.

Japan's status as the only atom-bombed nation made any discussion of nuclear weapons highly charged. An education system dominated by the left used the nation's history to reinforce pacifism and to subtly critique a conservative foreign policy that relied on the U.S. for national security. The result was a virtual taboo that headed off any discussion of nuclear weapons. Japanese politicians who even suggested that it might make sense for Japan to have a nuclear weapons capability were ostracized or punished.

In fact, however, there was a rational and calculated examination of the nuclear option in Japan. In keeping with the sensitivity of the issue, studies were conducted at arms length — usually by academics reporting to government bodies — so as not to lend an official appearance.