<Li> The normalists "call for incremental armament for national defense and accept using military force to maintain international peace and security". They support the revision of Article 9 to include a clause explaining the existence and function of the SDF . </Li> <Li> The nationalists assert that Japan should remilitarize and build nuclear capabilities in order to regain pride and independence . They also advocate revision of Article 9 to promote armament . </Li> <P> Evidently, opinions range from one extreme of pacifism, to the other extreme of nationalism and complete remilitarization . The majority of Japanese citizens approve the spirit of Article 9 and consider it personally important . But since the 1990s, there has been a shift away from a stance that would tolerate no alteration of the article to allowing a revision that would resolve the discord between the JSDF and Article 9 . Additionally, quite a few citizens consider that Japan should allow itself to commit the Self - Defense Forces to collective defense efforts, like those agreed to on the UN Security Council in the Gulf War, for instance . Japan's ability to "engage in collective defense" has been argued . The involvement of Japan in the Gulf War of 1990, or lack of involvement, has provoked significant criticism . Despite U.S. pressure on Japan to assist America in Iraq, Japan limited their involvement in the war to financial contribution primarily because of domestic opposition to the deployment of troops . As a result of the painfully ardent disapproval from the U.S. during the Gulf War, Japan was quick to act after the September 11 attacks in 2001 . It was clear that "the September 11 attacks led to increased U.S. demands for Japanese security cooperation". On October 29, 2001, the Anti-Terrorism Special Measures Law was passed, which "further broadened the definition of Japan's self - defense". The law allowed Japan to support the U.S. military on foreign territory . This law provoked "citizen groups (to) file lawsuits against the Japanese government in order to stop the dispatch of SDF troops to Iraq and to confirm the unconstitutionality of such a dispatch", though the troops sent to Iraq were not sent for combat but for humanitarian aid . Japan has actively built U.S. - Japan relations precisely because of Article 9 and Japan's inability to engage in an offensive war . It has been debated that, "when (Koizumi) declared support for the U.S. - led war on Iraq in March 2003, and when he sent Japanese forces to aid the occupation in January 2004, it was not Iraq that was in the Japanese sights so much as North Korea". Japan's unstable relations with North Korea, as well as other neighboring Asian countries has forced Japan to batter and bend Article 9 to "permit an increasingly expansive interpretation" of the constitution in the hopes of guaranteeing U.S. support in these relations . </P> <P> In May 2007, the then Prime Minister of Japan Shinzō Abe marked the 60th anniversary of the Japanese Constitution by calling for a "bold review" of the document to allow the country to take a larger role in global security and foster a revival of national pride . Aside from Abe's Liberal Democratic Party, as of 2012, the Japan Restoration Party, Democratic Party of Japan, People's New Party, and Your Party support a constitutional amendment to reduce or abolish restrictions imposed by Article 9 . </P>

What was the reason for the demilitarization of japan