WASHINGTON (Kyodo) -- Toru Hashimoto, a well-known Japanese lawyer who once wielded influence as an opposition leader with ties to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, asked the United States on Monday to apply "strong pressure" on Japan to change ordinary people's perception about security and the bilateral alliance.
Speaking at a think tank in Washington, Hashimoto, an outspoken former Osaka mayor, said the political establishment in Tokyo understands the need for Japan to increase its defense spending and play a larger military role within the war-renouncing Constitution, but that such thinking has not been fully shared by the public.
"We need to change our perception so that we can contribute more to the alliance and contribute more to deterrence," Hashimoto said, alluding to China's assertive territorial claims in the East and South China seas and North Korea's nuclear and missile threats. "We need to change the public's perceptions."
"So my proposal today was to ask the United States to throw a fastball at us, shake up the situation and apply strong pressure to us," Hashimoto, who currently serves as adviser to the Japanese opposition party Nippon Ishin no Kai, told the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
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