For the profoundly risk averse and cautious (diffident is another word that applies) Japanese, we are talking a requirement for change that most societies endure and achieve only as a consequence of catastrophic circumstances, like war.
After all, it will be utterly untenable for any to profess that they "support the troops" if the predictable consequence of their actions will be to subject those troops to a devastating and strategically catastrophic Dunkirk in the desert.