Japan votes for Mr and Ms in Maritime Self-Defense Force popularity poll

The recent image SDF blitz has got to be a precursor to an attempt to change the constitution.

And while I am all for legitimizing the SDF, I am not for giving Japan the ability to join in other people's wars. That will just be abused by politicians, and before you know it, Japan will be joining in America's debauched debacles like Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq.

The decision to participate with the United states and/or Coalition forces as it maybe will be made by the Japanese government itself. There are both collective and bilateral agreements to consider as well. The idea of "not giving Japan the ability" is laughable in light of the threat China poses.

Are the women stripped to the waist doing pull-ups too?

The SDF is one of the world's top funded military organizations. Japan does not need a constitutional change to protect itself from anybody

Agreed it is a standing army in all but name and a few tweaks here and there and it is ready to go. It is rank hypocrisy that Japan calls itself a pacifist nation. It is easy to be pacifist when you are hiding behind America.

Great! Nippon! Nippon! Nippon!

Sell the Japanese people on the idea of 'identifying' with the Japanese defense forces, play up the conflict with China over the Senkaku Islands, change the constitution, build up the military, and then approach debt default that much quicker! What a plan!

And when the Japanese start to retire in droves and try to cash in their bonds, the government can say 'Sorry......we dont have any money left to pay you with. But look at these attractive Japanese defense forces you voted for!'

That's why I believe in individual freedom, not in democracy. The general public gets dumber by the decade and I dont want the masses deciding how to spend my resources or how to control my life through their laws.

This promotion of their military is really a promotion of statism. The ones who will benefit from this statism are the leaders at the top. The average person will suffer, but they wont even realize the reason for their suffering.

Coming soon: JMSDF48

Another award? Best Mariner? At least these are real people and not talentless "talents"!

Best "Self Defenst" how to choose a favourite based on a 90 second video clip. Truly the world is becoming a dumber and dumber place for the Twitter and You Tube generation.

another useless fact!!!

Just imagine the comments section if the Chinese were doing this..

Sexism is alive and well in 3013, who's the cutest, who can we......

let the brainwashing commence.

Both the left and the right are wrong... China's not a threat and neither is militarizing a bad thing - it only means claiming sovereignty as a nation-state. Japan already has a very large military, denying that it exists will not make it go away. The whole point is to NOT start any wars in the first place, which such discussions are sadly lacking in Japan due to the head-in-the-cloud "pacifists". Article 9 is not realistically going to stop any wars any time soon.

I support Japan having a strong SDF, and I support changing the constitution to make the SDF legit. This is because situations can and do change and I don't want to see Japan fail if a real threat did emerge.

As somewhat silly as voting for a popularity poll among JMSDF members may sound, it makes perfect sense in Japan where for many decades after WWII the general public looked down upon the military, as the pre 1945 Japanese military had brought ruin to their country. Fortunately time seems to have healed that image, a recognition that the JSDF is nothing like the old Imperial Armed Forces and the dreaded Kenpeitai. The JSDF of today serve a huge mission in providing disaster assistance within the country, and this kind of PR helps improve the image among the young people.

Just wondering how it can be a popularity poll when you only have a 1.5 minute video to go by? And this is a video heavily edited to show only what the SDF wants shown.

Even the silly idol polls have more reliability as a "popularity poll" because the idols have been in the public eye for longer than 1.5 minutes.

Watch the video.

The image of the cable connected to the instructor's hand-gun shows this was a training tool. Law Enforcement used a similar tool that would project on a screen, 20 years ago. Yes it is serious, and no, that cable is not going to actually kill anyone. It seems real to the student, though, and that is its purpose. He is probably the winner.

The last one is the best, in my opinion. She uses semaphore, bugle signals, and genuine maritime flags. Very important military skills, although not really going to put anyone to death if she does not make a mistake herself.