(CNN) - Residents in northern Japan were woken abruptly Friday by blaring air raid sirens signaling a North Korean intermediate-range ballistic missile was about to fly over their heads.
It was the second time in just over two weeks the rogue state had fired a projectile over Japanese territory, a provocation which was immediately condemned by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
The missile passed over the northern island of Hokkaido where anxious residents told local media they didn't understand why North Korea was acting so antagonistically.
But CNN's Tokyo producer Yoko Wakatsuki said broader reaction in Tokyo and across national media was more measured.
"People know what North Korea is doing is a little bit of provocation ... they know this is not a direct attack to Japan, it's not an overture to war," CNN Tokyo producer Yoko Wakatsuki said.
But underneath the calm exterior, Friday's launch has widened a growing fault line in the ideological war over how Japan should deal with the North Korean threat to the region.
Abe's government have sought closer ties with the United States while working to change Japan's post- World War Two constitution, to allow the country to actively defend itself against external threats.
But Koichi Nakano, Political Science professor at Sophia University, told CNN Abe's opponents are angry their supposed ally in Washington was making Japan less safe under President Trump and want to soften their ties to the US, while upholding their nation's pacifist values.
"The danger of North Korea has been if anything heightened after Trump came to power (due to) his sometimes really provocative language and tweets. He's not really helping that much," he said.
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It was the second time in just over two weeks the rogue state had fired a projectile over Japanese territory, a provocation which was immediately condemned by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
The missile passed over the northern island of Hokkaido where anxious residents told local media they didn't understand why North Korea was acting so antagonistically.
But CNN's Tokyo producer Yoko Wakatsuki said broader reaction in Tokyo and across national media was more measured.
"People know what North Korea is doing is a little bit of provocation ... they know this is not a direct attack to Japan, it's not an overture to war," CNN Tokyo producer Yoko Wakatsuki said.
But underneath the calm exterior, Friday's launch has widened a growing fault line in the ideological war over how Japan should deal with the North Korean threat to the region.
Abe's government have sought closer ties with the United States while working to change Japan's post- World War Two constitution, to allow the country to actively defend itself against external threats.
But Koichi Nakano, Political Science professor at Sophia University, told CNN Abe's opponents are angry their supposed ally in Washington was making Japan less safe under President Trump and want to soften their ties to the US, while upholding their nation's pacifist values.
"The danger of North Korea has been if anything heightened after Trump came to power (due to) his sometimes really provocative language and tweets. He's not really helping that much," he said.
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