The land of the setting sun

The so-called Coalition of the Willing in Iraq is losing one of its members. Japan has announced that it will withdraw its troops, likely by the end of July.

They did good work in a non-combat role, I'm sure, but, as the BBC notes, "[t]he decision [to send troops to Iraq] was unpopular with the Japanese public, many of whom said it violated Japan's pacifist constitution".