TOKYO (AP) — In one of modern Japan’s biggest changes to security policy, its government decided this week to reinterpret Article 9 of its constitution to allow greater use of military force to defend other countries. The move sparked street protests amid fears it marks a reversal of Japan’s post-World War II pacifist principles.

Three experts shared their thoughts with The Associated Press about where Japan’s military is headed and why it is such a sensitive issue: Jeffrey Kingston, head of Asian studies at Temple University Japan; Takeshi Iwaya, chairman of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s Research Commission on Security; and Narushige Michishita, director of the Security and International Studies Program at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies. Quotes have been edited and condensed.