The government is considering spelling out exceptions to the three non-nuclear principles — Japan's pledge not to possess, produce or allow the introduction of nuclear weapons — in the national security strategy it will revise at the end of the year, people involved in the matter said on the 5th.
A proposal to allow nuclear weapons to be brought into the country in an emergency is the leading option. The government is leaning toward leaving the principles themselves unchanged.
Writing in an exception would leave the postwar pledge formally intact while creating room to set it aside in a crisis.
Ruling parties to open talks in November
The Liberal Democratic Party and Nippon Ishin no Kai are to begin talks in November on revising the three security documents, with the non-nuclear principles and nuclear-powered submarines as the focal points.
Groups opposed to any change have also spoken out. A group that plants second-generation A-bombed green trunks, grown from seeds of a tree that survived the Hiroshima bombing, held a meeting in Tokushima city and voiced concern about revisiting the principles.