There are also pretty big differences between Japan's SDF and a modern military. Only scraping the surface here, but members of the SDF can leave at any time, for any reason since it's a purely volunteer position. This weakens their military. They are afraid of being too hard on solidiers because if they are, they'll leave. This means you have an army of weak soliders who may not have the proper skills or training that an army like the U.S or China has.
This is why they need to be allowed to have a military. A country should be able to defend itself and the strongest defense, is a powerful and potent offense.
Ugh. Thousands of Americans died in September 11, which is the obvious result of American military action in the Middle East, and thousands more died in the following wars.
You can't just go around killing people and assume that they're not going to attack you back. The best defense is a good foreign policy that avoids conflict in the first place.
Like some kind of hypothetical agreement with Iran?
As a friend in Jordan said, sometimes democracy isn't the best first step. And I'd argue that both Atatürk and Nasser played pretty close to the line as well.