MSDF ships head to Indian Ocean on antiterror mission

Sunday 20th April, 04:18 PM JST

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The_Marion at 11:31 PM JST - 20th April

Japan, inconsistency is your middle name..................
fireant at 08:20 AM JST - 21st April

‘‘Various judiciary decisions have been made, but our duty is to respond to the reality of the situation,’’ Akimoto told the crew and their families. ‘‘We hope the MSDF members will contribute to the mission while maintaining high principles along the way.’’

Various judiciary decisions can be ignored while we maintain the high principles of ignoring our constitution.
USNinJapan2 at 09:48 AM JST - 21st April

Marion, fireant

Talk about barking up the wrong tree. The 'various judicious decisions' were made regarding only the JGSDF and JASDF deployments to I-R-A-Q. The constitutionality of the JMSDF's refueling mission to the Indian Ocean as part of the multinational force supporing Operation Enduring Freedom (primarily in Afghanistan) has never been contended in the judicial system. The JMSDF's refueling mission has been the subject of past (purely political) debates in the diet but no Japanese court has ever passed any rulings on this subject and the mission has never been disputed in the courts or ever been ruled unconstitutional. The only inconsistency here is how you've confused the JGSDF and JASDF's now unconstitutional deployments to Iraq with the JMSDF's continuing legal participation in OEF/GWT.