Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution  From Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search  Article 9 of the
Japanese Constitution is a clause in the National Constitution
of Japan outlawing war as a means to settle international
disputes involving the state. The Constitution came into effect
on May 3, 1947, following World War II. In its text, the state
formally renounces the sovereign right of belligerency and aims
at an international peace based on justice and order. The
article also states that, to accomplish these aims, armed forces
with war potential will not be maintained, although Japan
maintains de facto armed forces, referred to as the Japan Self-
Defense Forces which may have originally been thought of as
something akin to what Mahatma Gandhi called the Shanti Sena
(soldiers of peace) or a collective security police (peace
keeping) force operating under the United Nations.  Text of the
article[edit]  The full text of the article in Japanese:    The
official English translation of the