Presenter: Kobayashi Takeshi (Okinawa International University Hosei Research Institute/Okinawa University Visiting Professor) Moderator and Commentator: Yasuharu Hiya (Director, Okinawa Institute of Law and Politics)

　The “Security 3 Documents,” which were decided by the cabinet on 2022/12/16 last year, were “something that drastically changes Japan's security policy from a practical side,” as the “National Security Strategy,” which is the highest of the 3 documents, claims itself. The core of this lies in having counterattack capability (enemy base attack capability). Coupled with the security legislation enacted in 2015, which includes the exercise of the right of collective self-defense, it can be said that this formed a single “system” that is willing to fight war.
Also, what is placed at the center of this policy is the Nansei Islands, and in Okinawa, construction of Self-Defense Force bases on both the main island and Sakishima and deployment of long-range missiles are progressing rapidly, and residents' anxiety about turning them into battlefields is growing. Here, we will consider how to respond to this and find a path to peace from the viewpoint of constitutional law studies. In that regard, I would like to focus on the idea of peace that has been formed throughout the history of Okinawa.

• Kobayashi Takeshi
• Hiyasada Yasuharu