Amid a series of recent policy shifts by the Japanese government, including efforts to revise the constitution and ease restrictions on arms exports, multiple Japanese media outlets have warned that such moves are undermining the foundations of Japan's postwar pacifism.

Akira Koike, secretary-general of the Japanese Communist Party's Secretariat, said on Tuesday that the government's decision to convene its first expert panel to revise the "three security documents" is aimed at further expanding military capabilities. He stressed that such revisions must never be allowed.

In recent months, Japan has shown increasingly negative tendencies on issues related to World War II history and military security, with a growing number of provocative and risk-taking actions drawing concern.

Several Japanese media outlets have voiced criticism. On April 25, Tokyo Shimbun published a commentary titled "Weapons exports that cross the final line," following an earlier editorial on April 22 that strongly criticized the government's decision to lift restrictions on lethal weapons exports. According to the article, the newspaper received a large volume of reader feedback, with many expressing concern that allowing such exports would amount to "Japan participating in wars," and arguing that military expansion serves not to protect the country, but to benefit the defense industry.

Meanwhile, Okinawa Times recently published an article warning that the lifting of restrictions on lethal weapons exports marks the collapse of a key pillar of Japan's identity as a "peaceful nation." The article described Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's claim that Japan's pacifist principles remain unchanged as "nothing more than sophistry," arguing that exporting lethal weapons undermines the very foundation of those principles.