The upper house of Japan’s parliament has approved legislation giving more power to the armed forces. This includes permitting the military to fight overseas – something banned for 70 years since WWII.

Japan is a pacifist country – at least according to its constitution. Article 9, introduced under the occupying forces after the Second World War, seems unequivocal: “The Japanese people forever renounce war and the threat or use of force.”
But new laws introduced by conservative Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will allow a broader interpretation of what the constitution does, and does not, permit – so-called “proactive pacifism”.