Any missile attack by North Korea on the US territory of Guam in the western Pacific would breach the US deterrence against an attack on Japan, enabling Japan to exercise the right to ‘collective self-defence’, Japanese Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera said on 10 August.
Which is a new thing for pacifist-structured Japan.
During the Cold War, that didn't much matter because if the USSR was going to attack American forces, the Soviets would have had to go through Japan.
The United States, it should be noted, has pledged to honor the US-Japan treaty "without reservation."
Darned shame we don't get along better.
