Japan may now have to rearm itself

Well, that's the reason why the Japanese self-defense forces didn't fire missiles to destroy any debris. But along with the United States, Japan believes North Korea was testing long-range ballistic missile technology that can be used to carry a nuclear warhead far beyond its skies to Alaska.

The fear of a nuclear attack from North Korea, coupled with the current economic recession, is more than likely to prompt Japan to re-arm itself. North Korea, rather than Russia or the People's Republic of China, is Japan's only potential enemy. And the country is headed by Kim Jong-Il, the erratic despot son of Kim Il-Song, who launched an invasion to kick off the Korean War in 1950. Pyongyang has gone on the record by saying it has stopped trying to make nuclear bombs, but the Japanese military suspects that they may have been stockpiled.

Japan has a mutual defense treaty with the United States. Uncle Sam provides a nuclear defense umbrella for Japan under the treaty signed at the beginning of the Cold War era for protection against attacks from the Soviet Union. Thanks to the mutual defense arrangements, Japan has been able to refrain from rearmament, which is frowned upon by the United States and the People's Republic of China, along with those Asian countries that were invaded or occupied by the Japanese Imperial Army before and during the Second World War.

The global financial crisis has changed the situation, however. Japan is one of the countries hardest hit by the silent tsunami, which, if not halted in time, may engulf the world like the Great Depression of the early 1930s.

The Wall Street crash of 1929 precipitated a sharp decline in Japan's silk industry first. By 1931, the index of raw silk prices, with those in 1914 at 100, was down to 67, compared with 151 in 1929 and 222 in 1925. Over the same period, the index for rice fell from 257 to 114.

A world slump in international trade simultaneously reduced Japan's cotton exports, driving a large proportion of unemployed girl factory workers to seek refuge in their native villages. The result was widespread poverty in rural areas.

One solution Japan found to cure its economic woes was to expand military spending. The Kwantung Army created the Mukden Incident on Sept. 18, 1931.

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