Japan's space policy has complied with the Constitution's pacifist principles. Space development has been carried out with exclusively peaceful purpose since 1955. The word "peaceful purposes" was strictly interpreted to mean that Japan could use and exploit space only for "non-military" purposes. After two decades of inconsistency between "the Principle of peaceful use of space" and reality of militarized space activity, the new Japanese space law enacted in 2008 lifted the ban on the use of space technology for military purposes.