I guess it’s the power of an idea whose time has not come. President Abe is firmly rejecting the idea.

AP, via Yahoo:

TOKYO (AFP) – Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has pledged that Japan, the only nation to suffer atomic attack, would not develop nuclear weapons despite neighboring North Korea’s first test of an atom bomb Abe, a conservative who supports a stronger role for Japan’s military, rejected speculation that the North Korean announcement Monday of a nuclear test would trigger a regional arms race. Tuesday’s remarks are especially significant coming from Abe, who has long urged the country to shake off taboos linked to its World War II defeat when the United States stripped Japan of its right to maintain a military …

However, I would not be surprised if Japan had some other cards concealed in the kimono …

Despite its pacifist constitution, Japan has a state-of-the-art military known euphemistically as the “Self-Defense Forces.”

Japan spent 45.3 billion dollars on defense in 2005, ranked fourth behind the United States, Britain and France, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Washington spent 507 billion dollars

Even a nutcase like Kim Jong must be aware that the Japanese make good friends, and bad enemies.

Photo from Reuter’s AlertNet.

UPDATE: There is some speculation that it was not really a nuke. Or, if we don’t see it, it can’t have happened, right?

From RedHotCuppaPolitics