After Japan wreaked some of the worst brutality in history and then surrendered in World War ii, nations were eager to ensure that would never happen again. First came Article 9, the clause America wrote into Japan’s postwar constitution that restricts the nation from building a military any larger than it needs for the self-defense of its immediate geographic arena. Then came the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan, which, among other things, codified Japan’s dependence on the U.S. for its defense.