Abe isn’t contemplating Japanese boots on the ground in Iraq or Syria or joint offensive operations with the U.S. anywhere else. He calls his initiatives “proactive contributions to peace.” The Japanese public remains wary of foreign entanglements and rescue missions abroad. The same goes for the Komeito Party, the Liberal Democratic Party’s partner in the coalition. Abe faces a heated debate in the Diet to get approval to provide rearguard support to the U.S. This is, after all, the country that last year celebrated the successful effort by a Japanese housewife to have Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution, which renounces war, nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.