Japan’s Cabinet Council on April 1 issued a statement saying that Japan’s Constitution does not necessarily ban the owning and use of nuclear weapons, an answer for the questioning on nuclear weapons from Takako Suzuki, a non-partisan in House of Representatives.

According to the statement, Article Nine of the Constitution limits the self-defense to the minimum, hence even the nuclear weapons are not prohibited, so long as they are within the necessary minimum range.

Yusuke Yokobatake, director-general of the Japanese Cabinet Legislation Bureau, allegedly said that Japan's Constitution does not necessarily ban the use of nuclear weapons. But “the use of weapons, not just nuclear arms, is restricted under domestic and international laws,” Yokobatake also said, adding that the use of nuclear weapons by Japan is unrealistic.

The ambiguous attitude of Japanese government on nuclear weapons aroused concern worldwide. It is understandable that the shortage of conventional energy resources has led Japan to the pursuit of nuclear energy, but the country's alarming nuclear material stockpiles, which include 1.2 tons of highly enriched uranium that can be directly used to make nuclear weapons, are way above its needs for civilian purposes, Xinhua reported.

“Japan also has large stockpiles of other sensitive nuclear materials, including separated plutonium and large amount of highly enriched uranium. This issue has indeed attracted global attention. It is hoped that the Japanese side would take necessary steps to address the concerns of the international community,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said on March 22, 2015.