Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2016/12/15/as-japans-trumpian-leader-pr.html
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Gah, my eyes!
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Nice country you have there. Shame if something were to happen to it.
ETA: I can’t imagine too many Japanese would be upset if the US removed their occupying forces.
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Abe needing another distraction?
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They aren’t occupying forces.
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Saying that this is “In part, this is driven directly by Donald Trump,” is pure nonsense. Major government forces have been seeking to either remove Article 9 since at least the late 1990s, and Abe himself has been explicitly calling for it in public since 2007. Additionally, one of the most important forces trying to get Japan to re-arm and take a larger role in international military actions is the US, under several administrations.
And while it’s true that the majority of the population is opposed to any potential explicit revision to Article 9, it’s also true that the vast majority of Japanese people are mostly indifferent to politics. There have been more marches and other demonstrations on this issue than on most things since the 1960s, but for some reason that didn’t stop Abe’s party from achieving a complete sweep in the last elections (simple explanation is “it’s the economy, stupid” mentality).
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He is such a crazy guy! Wearing miniskirt in a cold day!
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Japan has been involved in South Sudan for years as it attempts to normalize its defence and national security. Yes, many in the conservative spectrum have not come to terms with the nation’s role in World War II or its crimes, but to pretend that Japan allowing its peacekeepers to protect civilians attacked in South Sudan or to protect vessels within its exclusive economic zone that come under attack - which the previous interpretation of its constitution did not allow - is somehow “re-militarizing” ignores context. To pretend that Japan would somehow embark on a new Greater Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere shows ignorance of Japanese mainstream political thought.
Also, while Abe would undoubtedly like to change Article 9, that is not what he has done. The Liberal Democratic Party has pushed for a re-interpretation of Article 9 to allow “collective self-defence”, which means that if other peacekeepers in South Sudan are attacked, Self Defence Forces personnel can come to their assistance. Or if a US naval vessel is attacked by North Korean ballistic missiles while in Japan’s exclusive economic zone, Japanese Aegis destroyers could assist. Japan is seeking to act as a normal, sovereign state.
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You really don’t understand a damn thing about Japan.
If Abe was xenophobic then why has he met with more leaders of foreign countries than all the PMs in the last 20 years combined? Why is the Abe administration relaxing immigration requirements? Etc etc etc
As for autocratic , the parliament and buearoccacicy here simply don’t allow for this. It isn’t possible and it is structured that way on purpose.
You also don’t understand the requirements for changing Article 9 or how the LDP only maintains majority through partnership with New Komeito, a Buddhist pacifist party.
Please STFU about Japanese politics. You clearly know less than nothing and can’t even reach the level of not even wrong.
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I’ve spoken to lots of Japanese people of all generations about this over the years, even okinawans. Never met a one who characterized US forces as “occupying” and that includes a friend of my wife who was alive during the GHQ period.
Aside from an actual minority of Japan Communist Party members, regular people here seem to prefer having US forces in Japan.
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Didn’t the LDP release manga propaganda aimed at children to show that Article 9 was written by foreign influences on Japan and needs to be changed to bring Japan into the modern era?
While technically true since the current constitution was written by GHQ, maybe you have not read that comic in Japanese?
EDIT: the comic itself in Japanese http://jimin.ncss.nifty.com/pdf/pamphlet/kenpoukaisei_manga_pamphlet.pdf as “propaganda” it would fail miserably
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Well, except for all the crime they seem to get away with.
Militarizing worked great for Japan last time. They got to go many places around Asia and meet many people.
It’s aimed at Japanese children, why would it not be in Japanese?
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Merely a world class army stationed in a foreign nation which lost a war with us. Did the semantics really lead you to so discount the opinions in the peace, I mean piece?
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at most it could be ‘part’ nonsense. There is nothing ‘pure’ stated by the phrase “in part”. If you read with an agenda, you’ll find one.
Okay, I’ll rephrase–it’s 100% nonsense. There is no way in which Abe’s (or more accurately, the Nippon Kaigi, of which Abe and much of his party are members) push for a stronger military, active-defense policy is in any way at all linked to the election of Trump. As I said, the positions predate Trump’s involvement in politics by nearly 20 years, and haven’t changed noticeably in response to Trump’s election. It happens what Abe wants is somewhat in line with what Trump wants, though not entirely (Abe, for example, would not want to see a large scale withdrawal of US troops from Japan, at least not until after Japan has already established an actual military authorized to use force–i.e., amending the Japanese constitution).
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Of course, one major difference is that Japan will lionize scientists or intellectuals and America is anti-science and anti-intellectual.
