March 11, 2023

The Japanese government in 1984 recognized that Tomahawk missiles are "offensive weapons" and that Japan's Self-Defense Forces are "not allowed to possess" them.

Japanese Communist Party representative Kokuta Keiji pointed out this fact at a Lower House Foreign Affairs Committee meeting on March 10.

At present, the Kishida government is planning to purchase as many as 400 U.S. Tomahawk long-range cruise missiles, repeatedly explaining that they are "not offensive weapons" and that the acquisition of Tomahawk missiles is "within the limits imposed by the Constitution".

Kokuta cited a government response to this issue given on June 29, 1984 during a meeting of the House of Representatives Special Committee on Okinawa and Northern Problems. Yamashita Shintaro, deputy director general at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at that time, was asked if the SDF may be equipped with conventional warhead-tipped Tomahawk missiles. Yamashita in his response to this question stated, "If they are offensive weapons, they won't be permitted."

Kokuta pointed out that the U.S. military used Tomahawk missiles in several saturation bombings and accidentally killed a number of civilians. Kokuta asked if Japan may exercise the proposed enemy-strike capability and use Tomahawk missiles in a possible U.S. saturation bombing operation. Parliamentary Senior Vice-Minister of Defense Ino Toshiro answered, "We will make that determination according to individual, concrete cases."

Kokuta criticized Japan's possession of Tomahawk missiles for going beyond the bounds of the Constitution which restricts the use of force to "the minimum necessary for self-defense".