even discussions of nuclear armament or deterrence in the country was unpopular due to a strong "nuclear taboo". However, this taboo has been breaking, especially because Abe elevated the topic to mainstream politics during his tenure. National identity is an important factor in Japanese nuclear armament. Since World War II, the peace constitution has greatly limited the ability of Japanese military advancement, restricting them from having an active military or waging war with another country. These restrictions and the strong desire of former colonies – especially Korea and China – for apology and reconciliation by Japan for its crimes and atrocities committed under pre-WWII imperialism, coupled with Japan's refusal to make appropriate amends, led to the rise of a conservative branch of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in Japan that encouraged revisions to the Peace Constitution and promoted, under former prime minister Shinzo Abe, “healthy nationalism,” which aimed to restore the Japanese public’s sense of pride in the country. The revisionists sought to "create a new national identity" that increased national pride, allowed for collective self-defense and removed “institutional limitations on military activities”. Since the reliability of U.S. security guarantees shapes Japan’s nuclear policy, a strong American nuclear umbrella is necessary to prevent Japan from developing nuclear weapons of its own. Since the 1960s, however, Japanese confidence in U.S. security guarantees has been influenced by American foreign policy shifts, from Nixon’s “Guam Doctrine” to Trump’s desire for allies to provide more of their own security. Although Japan developing nuclear weapons would violate the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and potentially decrease U.S. power in East Asia, there is historical precedent for the U.S. to be complacent regarding Japan building nuclear arms: as long as Japan is a democracy, a friend of Washington and has high state capacity, the U.S. alliance would likely be maintained. This was the case for France and the United Kingdom, when they developed their own nuclear weapons after the end of the Second World War despite American deterrence. See also History of nuclear weapons Japan and weapons of mass destruction Japan's non-nuclear weapons policy German nuclear weapons program Nuclear latency References Further reading External links Annotated bibliography of Japanese atomic bomb program from the Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues. FAS: Nuclear Weapons Program: Japan—Federation of American Scientists Japan's atomic bomb History Channel International documentary Japanese Nuclear Weapons Program during the WWII Japan Plutonium Overhang Origins and