[Dateline : Recent]

Storyline:
Japan's recent military expansion and the government's intention to align with the United States and NATO in global affairs have raised considerable concerns in the country.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is paying a visit to the U.S. next week with strengthening the Japan-U.S. military alliance on his agenda. This follows the government easing its strict defense equipment transfer rules, permitting the global export of next-generation fighter jets developed jointly with Britain and Italy, and a swelling defense budget drawing protests in late March.

Japanese scholars and opinion leaders have voiced their concerns over the government's tendency of straying away from the pacifist constitution and getting further involved in military alliances, fearing it would make Japan a pawn in games of U.S. hegemony.

Shotlist:
1. Various of National Diet in Tokyo, Japan;
2. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Atsushi Koketsu, emeritus professor of Yamaguchi University (partially overlaid with shot 3):
"Japan has not given a clear explanation to the United States on lifting the export ban on next-generation fighter jets. Also, future weapons-related issues need to be fully affirmed by the United States. This is one of the purposes of Kishida's visit to the United States. In addition, Japan's support for Ukraine will likely continue in the future even if the United States' attitude changes, because Japan wants its status as a quasi-NATO ally to be recognized. This is not what the prime minister of a pacifist country with a pacifist constitution should do.";
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3. Various of banners of NATO, "NATO Star" sculpture in Brussels, Belgium - Date Unknown;
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4. Tokyo, Japan - Recent:
SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Takakage Fujita, director-general, civil group dedicated to upholding and developing Murayama Statement (partially overlaid with shot 5):
"Japan has no politics as a sovereign country. It is only acting as a subsidiary of the United States, listening to whatever the U.S. says. NATO is a purely European military alliance, and for Japan, which has a pacifist constitution, to join such a military alliance is utterly intolerable."
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5. Flag of NATO in Brussels, Belgium - Date Unknown;
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6. Various of anti-military expansion seminar in progress in Tokyo, Japan - Recent;
7. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Hiroshi Hoshino, journalist:
"The three security documents, prior to revisions, stipulate that involvement in places in a state of combat, even not in the form of weapons, are not allowed. Now fighter jets which can kill people is going to be developed, produced and exported. This current state is unacceptable."
8. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Sadao Hirano, former member, House of Councilors (partially overlaid with shot 9/ending with shot 10):
"Japan's policy of lifting the ban on the export of next-generation fighter jets is to integrate with the U.S. military-industrial complex. This is highly dangerous. I think this should stop no matter what. The way the budget increases, the nature of the budget, is like heading towards the direction of a new war, and it is to follow the United States. But no matter what, Asia is Asia. What the government is doing now is very dangerous."
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9. Various of protest against defense budget, placards;
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10. Various of protest;
11. Various of cityscape, street scene in Tokyo, Japan - Exact Date Unknown.

[RESTRICTIONS: No access Chinese mainland]