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CounterPunch
January
28, 2003
Japan at the Crossroads
A
View of the War on Terror from the Far East
By ADAM LEOBWITZ
There were perhaps 10,000 gathered at various
protest meetings nationwide January 18, with the majority 7,000
gathered in Hibiya Park in Tokyo. Our own small city of Mishima
brought out about fifty, mainly from the Teacher's Union which
has had a long association with the political left, and the man
next to me was reading the Aka Hata (Red Flag)
published by the Communist Party. Most in attendance were middle-aged
to elderly, with myself the only foreigner. From the local university
campus there were two young women, one a third-year student and
the other who was her friend a reporter for the school newspaper.
Before the actual demonstration march
-- a thirty-minute course from the city hall where we had gathered
to the train station -- there was a free-talk gathering at one
of the annex buildings of the city hall. The first speaker was
the organizer Fukuo Masao who after introducing himself went
on to say that he was born in 1914 and had thus experienced both
fighting in warfare and being bombed. It was a somber moment.
On this day we were raising our voices against not only the
seemingly unstoppable action by the US and Britain but also Japan's
contribution to the campaign. The Naval Self Defense Force has
sent the advanced technology Aegis surveillance ship to the Indian
Ocean, and during the bombing of Afghanistan sent re-fuelling
vessels.
All this may seem surprising for a country
that has renounced war as an instrument of foreign policy, the
famous Article 9 of the constitution, but it is these very terms
that are currently under especial threat due to an impending
piece of legislation now under debate in the National Diet known
in Japanese as the Yuji Hosei-an, or the War Contingency
Act. Comprising three bills it would in effect allow the SDF
to participate in "regional"--an indefinable word--campaigns
headed by the US under the rubric of "collective security".
The idea of "collective security" is of relatively
recent origin, emerging under the "New Guideline" that
passed the Lower House after fierce debate in 1997. This was
a revision of the AMPO agreement (created in 1960 and catalyst
for the legendary "Ampo riots") for the cooperation
of the two nations in case Japan itself were under attack.
The push for more direct Japanese involvement
in US military "regional" campaigns (which has come
to mean Central Asia and the Middle East) has been gaining momentum
in the decade since Gulf War I and came to a head after 9.11.
In Washington soon after the incident Prime Minister Koizumi
Junichirô emerged smiling from a meeting with Bush saying
in fragmented English that he was willing to contribute "anything"
to the fight against terrorism. Soon Japan's own Antiterrorism
Special Measures Law was signed allowing for re-fuelling vessels
to support US forces in the Afghan campaign. Under the legislation
currently in debate SDF forces could be deployed abroad preemptively
if--in the nebulous terminology of the government--there was
a situation in which an attack on Japan could possibly be perceivable.
Additionally, SDF stationed abroad could participate in combat
situations because any attack on these forces is redefined as
an attack on Japan. Likewise the bills allow for the requisitioning
of domestic resources for wartime, a taboo since the end of WWII
(Australia
National University's Gavin McCormack's analysis of the re-arming
of Japan and her participation in the Afghan conflict is required
reading).
The Man Behind
the Permanent Wave
Koizumi made much of his rapport with
Bush even before 9.11 and it is easy to see how the two sheltered
scions of wealthy political families would have a chemistry between
them. He was the Minister of Health and Welfare for a short
period under a past administration, has never had a job outside
of high-level elected officialdom and like Clinton exudes a fragrance
of dandy counter-culturism: handsome, extremely well-spoken and
enjoying traveling and the arts, kind of like the late Dutch
politician Pim Fortuyn without the outward xenophobia. Foreign
policy is his favor and visiting countries his pleasure to the
extent that the national newspaper Yomiuri Shinbun once
chided him for conducting affairs without the baton of an able
foreign minister. The woman currently holding this position
is pliant and uncreative leaving the practicalities of Koizumi's
true nationalistic and militaristic leanings to the steely-eyed
State Minister for Self-Defense Ishiba Shigeru (his bumbling
predecessor was removed in a cabinet re-shuffling after falling
in scandal involving illegal surveillance of a Tokyo city councilman).
A public statement expressing support for a joint US-Japan missile
development scheme followed his visit last month to the White
House. Ostensibly this is being presented as a defense against
North Korea's attack potential--North Korea's Tepoton
test flight which overflew Japan in 1997 is still a fresh memory
-- but it can be read as just one part of a restructuring of
Japan's policy priorities. Koizumi's more personal assertion
of nationalistic pride often take the form of visiting the Yasukuni
Shrine to pay respects to deceased members of the old Imperial
Army, including convicted war criminals.
To this end, Koizumi interprets the "War
on Terrorism" as a chance for Japan to be more "international"
and defines involvement in the Iraqi campaign as such under questioning
from the main opposition leader Kan Naoto of the Minshutô
(Democratic Party). During Question Time last week in the Lower
House of the Diet, Kan voiced publicly his opposition to an invasion
but was unable to get a blustery Blair-like commitment to such
an action from Koizumi who instead opted for the "wait and
see" approach. However, with the Aegis frigate already
dispatched and the Koizumi's verbal endorsement of monetary aid
it is difficult to see the current administration veering from
the White House course, and this in a time of great domestic
economic difficulty. Unemployment is officially at 5.6% (approx.
3,380,000 people) and new hirings down over the past 15 consecutive
months. Koizumi's public policy shortcomings might be his downfall,
especially if unemployment continues to rise and there are cuts
in the national retirement pension scheme. Japan's mega-banks
are in crisis posting record deficits due to loan defaults (recently
consolidated Mizuho Holdings alone is almost 2 trillion yen/$16.5
billion in the red), with nationalization being floated as a
possible option by the ministerial appointee.
The cold, hard truth is that Japan cannot
afford a defense budget that is geared toward cooperation in
aggressive warfare (even the "less than 100 billion yen"
for a sea-based missile defense), and this is the point I spoke
out on during our local 18 January rally. The admirable social
welfare system--affordable and accessible public day care, well-funded
education, universal health care that includes excellent maternity
leave benefits, the pension scheme--that at least provides for
some semblance of equality in society would undoubtedly suffer
(as it has in the US, I emphasized) were legislation like the
War Contingency Act to become law. This is not to mention the
public legitimacy that violence would gain; history textbook
education about WWII is still woefully short on Japan as aggressor
nation in Southeast Asia, but at least there is the message that
glory and pride are not exclusively the domain of wartime victory.
Domestic Dissent
and the Media
Meanwhile, opposition to the Act has
come from voices formerly within the defense establishment.
Last November Takeoka Katsumi, previously number three at the
Self Defense Agency, spoke at the local Teacher's Union Hall
in Mishima. The hefty 80-year old stood as he declaimed for over
one hour, pounding his mid-section from time to time for emphasis
and lashing out against Koizumi and the idea that increased armamentaria
leads to peace. Disputes with North Korea if handled intramurally
between Japan and South Korea can be settled peaceably for the
US often acts as exacerbating intermediary, he emphasized. Both
he and his former colleague Maeda Hisao writing in Gunshuku
(Disarmament Studies) have criticized the legislation
as not only unconstitutional but also the means by which US armed
forces would have greater autonomy within Japan, not to mention
that the SDF would become its tool. The latter observations
seem to have begun to be borne out already; at the 18 January
rally photographs were shown of US troops walking public roads
in full combat gear outside Gotemba Air Base 40 km north of Mishima
and conferring with SDF troops, both prohibited by law.
Other progressive publications out strongly
against the act include the independent weekly Shûkan
Kinyôbi (This Week Friday) and Sekai
(World). Composer Sakamoto Ryûichi penned a column
in an issue of the latter alongside translations of statements
by Norm Chomsky and Howard Zinn. Shûkan Kinyôbi
last summer published reportage wizard Honda Katsuichi's series
on Iraq who on the heels of an extended foray into the United
States (already published in book form as Has America Changed?)
visited the bombed-out shelters of Baghdad and regional hospitals
with patients, mostly children, sickened by depleted uranium
poisoning. Honda, whose investigation into the "national
shame" that was the Nanjing massacres has been translated
into English, is a writer of singular bravery and humanity; he
even suggests Iraqi schools were specifically targeted by the
"smart bombs" of the US-led attack during Gulf War
I.
Other more "mainstream" journalistic
venues including the broadcast media have, although dominated
most recently by North Korea, been pretty much toeing the party
line, quiet about the horrors of war and tentatively drumming
support for Koizumi and the American presence. The presence
of the public broadcasting network NHK in this camp although
not surprising is somewhat disquieting since it is generally
known for its analytical rigor in political affairs. NHK did
not even cover the 18 January demonstrations, nor did the Yomiuri
Shinbun (articles appeared in other national dailies, the
Asahi Shinbun, Mainichi Shinbun, and Tokyo Shinbun).
Yomiuri even takes it upon itself to make sport of Saddam
Hussein presenting not a photo but a drawn caricature alongside
an article announcing his anti-smoking campaign and even refusing
to grace is name with the honorific shi (slightly elevated
form of "Mr." following his name) as is usually done
for national leaders. The use or non-use of this suffix often
reveals attitudes of the writers towards the subject; Osama bin-Laden
even received this tag following 9.11 but it was immediately
upon commencement of the Afghan attack (although to its credit
an evening edition contained a front page, not unsympathetic
treatment with color photo of international volunteers in Iraq
protesting military action).
Even DU has received scant media treatment
despite Japan's history of nuclear attack, with the notable exception
of Tokyo Broadcasting System's News 23. Last November
saw a long segment on the increase of birth defects and other
childhood diseases, and in an act of individual bravery the journalist
applied a Geiger counter to the debris of destroyed tanks on
the infamous Route One. News 23 is anchored by Chikushi
Tetsuya and on the editorial board of Shûkan Kinyôbi
mentioned above, and concluded the segment by concurring
with the ground journalist that these weapons should be outlawed.
News 23 it should be noted is a later news broadcast from
11pm to midnight. This past week DU was also covered in another
post-midnight broadcast from a different station and so while
it cannot be said that this issue has been totally ignored it
still has not made it into prime-time.
This is not to say that the primacy or
legitimacy of military action is not sometimes called into question--the
very presence of Japanese ground journalists in and around Iraq
always lends some credence to a preferred peaceful resolution--but
there is worryingly little question from the majors concerning
the motives of a potential action that could end as humanitarian
nightmare; again News 23 can be considered an exception,
and in one memorable moment during the special New Year's show
the architect Andô Tadao stated his opposition on humanitarian
grounds (Andô is a trenchant critic of modern economic
systems and submitted as a WTC "Ground Zero" monument
an enormous, plain, grass-covered tumulus).
Outside the vacuous, baritonal musings
of the prime-time news readers the "Why?" question
begins to pop-up in the news magazine/commentary-type formats.
Two other weekend shows from Tokyo Broadcasting--Saturday night's
Broadcaster and Sunday afternoon's Jôhô
Tokushû (Special Info) both featured dissenting
voices that went beyond polite perplexity. The former included
both a Japanese academic and the Tass Tokyo bureau chief
condemning the twin-headed chimera of oil and imperialism, and
the latter sought to investigate the nefarious ideological pairings
of right-religious evangelicalism and Neo-conservatism that have
culminated in the Project for the New American Century.
The Future
Near and Far
Japan's contribution to this action and
future ones again rests on the passage of the War Contingency
Act. Although the date the vote is to be set is still not clear--Koizumi
could be biding his time and waiting for the US to commence their
attack--but it is easy to see how the Act could be passed. With
the main opposition Minshutô dazed and confused
like its US namesake and plagued by recent defections, the smaller
left parties including the Social Democrats and Communists not
amounting to much in numbers, and the "great, baggy, faction-ridden"
ruling Jimintô (Liberal Democratic Party) fronted
by both a charismatic leader and Defense Minister willing to
walk the walk in good standing with the major right-wing bloc,
the Conservative (Hoshutô) and the Buddhist-nationalist
Kômeitô Parties, anyone would be hard pressed
to say that Koizumi and the White House will not get exactly
what they want. Of course, domestic economic problems might
dampen support and delay a vote, but that cannot erase the persistency
of the current ideology, which may in future manifest in "upgrading"
the Self-Defense Agency to Ministry status, and the allowing
of US nuclear-powered aircraft carriers in Yokosuka naval base
once the Kitty Hawk is decommissioned.
Even without this Act de facto Japanese
support for US military action exists simply by the presence
of bases; the Yokosuka base is home of the Seventh Fleet and
employs roughly 5,000 locals in construction and the service
industries; closer to home in Gotemba high-altitude "training"
overflights go from morning to night, and huge dual-prop helicopters
make their sorties. The flights are especially obtrusive in
cloudy weather which forces the C47 transports to buzz our mountain
housing development. When I broach the subject to people not
in the name of advocacy but just as a conversation topic the
response generally is the same, whether an 18-year-old student
in my class, a 50-something semi-employed truck driver with whom
I was sharing a hot spring, or an ex-hippie contractor who repairs
enlisted housing at Yokosuka: "What can you do about it?
When you have a product you have to use it before it expires."
Adam Lebowitz
teaches at Nihon University and has lived in Japan for 12 years.
For English translations of recent Japanese progressive writing
Japan Focus can be accessed through Znet.
He can be reached at: noriko-adam@tokai.or.jp
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