Japan's ground self-defense force and deployment

The Mainichi reports here on an important decision handed down this week by the Tokyo High Court. At issue is whether a member of the Ground Self-Defense Force may sue to call into question the constitutionality of requiring him to deploy. Excerpt:

The plaintiff serves with a logistics unit in the Kanto area, and filed the suit in 2016. The suit points out that "at the time of joining (the GSDF), the plaintiff did not agree to obey orders related to the exercise of collective self-defense. There is a risk the plaintiff would be severely injured or killed if he followed such orders." 

The district court had ruled that the case could not even be contested in court, stating, "It is impossible to say that there is any concrete or realistic chance that the plaintiff will be issued such a deployment order. That being the case, the plaintiff's fear of criminal penalties or other consequences for not obeying orders is entirely abstract." 

The Jan. 31 high court ruling sending the case back to district court rejected this argument, however, while also pointing out that it would be difficult for the plaintiff to seek legal redress for any punishment imposed, such as filing to have it revoked after the fact.

A comparable standing issue is pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in Smith v. Trump, which was argued on October 27, 2017. Prof. Bruce Ackerman writes about the oral argument here on Lawfare.