November 8, 2025

Japanese Communist Party Policy Commission Chair Yamazoe Taku, at a press conference in the Diet building on November 7, stated that the introduction of nuclear-powered submarines would violate the Japanese Constitution.

On the Previous day, on a TBS news program, Defense Minister Koizumi Shinjiro made remarks in favor of Japan acquiring nuclear-powered submarines, stating that “all the surrounding countries have them.”

Regarding Koizumi’s forward-leaning remarks, Yamazoe said, “Nuclear-powered submarines are weapons which can be used as offensive weapons. Therefore, pushing forward with their introduction is unacceptable and unconstitutional.”

He added that nuclear-powered submarines can carry missiles, operate covertly over wide areas, and strike deep into enemy territory, and that they potentially constitute the type of offensive weapons prohibited by the Japanese Constitution.” He emphasized that, as a country that advocates the peaceful use of nuclear energy in its Basic Act on the Peaceful Use of Nuclear Energy, Japan must not take this step.”