Rays of Reform, Shadows of War ― Booms and Bashings Characterize the “Koizumi Era”― TORU HAYANO

It has been nine calendar years since I started writing this column, “Politica Nippon,” which is run in The Asahi Shimbun every Tuesday. With the passage of time, I think it’s time I passed the baton. So this is the last column of the series. At the end of the ninth year, I wish to look back on the turbulent past year as well as the changes that took place in the Japanese political scene over the past nine years. I will call this piece “The age Politica Nippon has watched.”

Let me go over the clippings of this year’s “Politica Nippon.” On New Year’s Day, I was surprised at Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s visit to Yasukuni Shrine. After that, disturbing developments related to Iraq happened one after another, such as the dispatch of the Self-Defense Forces to Iraq, terrorism in Spain and the hostage crisis involving three Japanese civilians in Iraq. So many other things happened this year, too. I recall how the term “personal responsibility” became a buzz phrase.

I remembered a story I heard from Keiko Ochiai at an event titled “No more 12.8 rally,” which was organized by “Kenpo Angya no Kai” (Pilgrimage for the Constitution) and held in Tokyo on December 8 to commemorate the anniversary of the opening of the Pacific War. While caring for her 81-year-old mother, who has Alzheimer’s disease, Ochiai explained how she thinks about Iraq. “The life of my mother, who is next to me, is connected to faraway lives in Iraq,” she said, then spoke about the Japanese hostage crisis in Iraq.

“What is engraved in my heart along with anger is the term ‘personal responsibility,’” she said. “People threw the words ‘personal responsibility’ at those whose lives were at stake. The words were used to slash at those left in the lurch and we easily jumped on the bandwagon…”

The lives of people who had no reason to be killed were being threatened. How could anyone say they were responsible for their predicaments and tell them not to cause the government trouble? Some people even demanded that the released hostages personally shoulder the cost of their rescue work. How sordid of them to say they should bear “personal responsibility” for what befell them. To begin with, it is wrong to make war. But to think that the term became a buzzword…

In Iraq, two journalists, including Shinsuke Hashida, were actually killed. Perhaps they were prepared to accept their fate to some extent. But the “life” of Shosei Koda had no effect whatsoever on Japanese politics.

Since we entered the “Koizumi era,” Japanese politics have swayed violently between booms and bashings. Koizumi created a boom when he said he was going to “tear the LDP to pieces.” Back then, when Koizumi stood on street corners to deliver speeches, he was surrounded by middle-aged women and female high school students who waved at him with cheers of “Jun-chan!” Koizumi’s popularity both made and gained support for the Koizumi administration.

Three years later, as the vision of Koizumi reform lost its luster, the Koizumi-led LDP lost the July Upper House election to Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan), which was under the leadership of Katsuya Okada. Around that time, the South Korean television drama “Winter Sonata” started to capture the hearts of Japanese women. I also found the beautiful music and scenery of the story of pure love very appealing. At the same time, I couldn’t help suspect that people who were getting tired of the Koizumi boom had shifted their interest to “Winter Sonata.”

Bashing is the reverse of booms. The argument of “personal responsibility” of the former Japanese hostages in Iraq is a typical example. Japanese national sentiment is showing a violent mood swing. At one moment, it shows a rapid surge as if in a trance (which is not entirely a bad thing) and the next moment it swings to the other extreme to mercilessly hurt others. And the mass media, of which I am a member, tends to encourage the trend.

Was the way we grilled politicians who failed to pay pension premiums right? Now that we calmly look at the case of Naoto Kan, who was forced to step down from the Minshuto leadership, it is clear that his failure was largely due to government error. Once the bashing is over, we realize that nothing has been done to drastically reform the pension system over which the media made such a big fuss.

Japan’s relations with North Korea and China are becoming increasingly grave. Is Japan dealing with them in the right way? From time to time, I hear people say we shouldn’t let them make a fool of us and get away with it. But we should refrain from speaking like that. In politics and foreign policy, we need to draw a clear line between fair criticism and emotional bashing and deal with the other party with self-control and reflection. I think it is time we carefully check our behavior and refrain from showing an outburst of emotions.

What I have come to strongly feel in the “Koizumi era” is that “reform” and “war” form an ensemble. At any rate, I have basically supported Prime Minister Koizumi’s policy of reform because I counted on him to break stagnant Japanese politics with his declaration that he would break the LDP. But reform is just reform -- it is not a revolution, restoration nor a dictatorship. As such, it cannot be helped that reform has not fully materialized because of various kinds of resistance put up by opponents to reform. But some of the opposition views are worth listening to.

People of postwar generations like myself have long held the belief that war would never be repeated. Then why do we feel that war is becoming increasingly realistic from year to year? Of course, for one thing, the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States changed the atmosphere across the world. But I never thought the Japan-U.S. alliance would come to be treated as a noble cause that requires Japan to act jointly with the United States in the “arc of instability” stretching from the Korean Peninsula to Southeast Asia, Kashmir, Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine.

Recently, I attended a study group “to learn from the history of party politics.” It was comprised of scholars, politicians and journalists. We exchanged views on “Showa-shi no Ketteiteki Shunkan” (Decisive moments in the history of the Showa period), which was written by University of Tokyo professor emeritus Junji Banno and published by Chikuma Shobo. The book analyzes Japanese politics from 1936 to 1937 and makes an interesting observation about the relationship between “reform” and “war.”

According to the book, (1) back then, democratic speech was still tolerated. (2) Proponents of systematic reform leading to the army of that time also aimed at national defense at the same time. Shakai Taishuto (Social Mass Party), which was supported by the working class, also shared the same idea. (3) Contrary to general belief, Takao Saito of Minseito, who was known for his criticism of the military, was indifferent to social improvement.

Banno states: “The way Koizumi as an advocate of reform is more eager than anyone else to dispatch the SDF is reminiscent of the time.” … “The way so-called forces of resistance are against the dispatch of the SDF to Iraq is similar to the attitude of Takao Saito some 70 years ago.”

But wait. If so, does it mean “reform” is closely related to “war?” If that is the case, it would be unreasonable for me to criticize “war” while supporting Koizumi’s “reform.” I don’t like it. In that case, I would rather abandon “reform” and oppose “war.” When I said so to Banno, he replied: “Reform is a romantic idea.” I see. If reform is a romantic idea, war must also be an extension of a romantic idea. If we want to learn from Showa history, we must be very wary of the banner of reform. That seems to be the basic idea.

The “Koizumi era” is characterized by public opinion that keeps swinging between booms and bashings and by the ensemble of “reform” and “war.” I should also make reference to the words of Kazutoshi Hando, the author of “Showa-shi” (Showa history), published by Heibonsha, that also came out this year. In answer to the question, “Why do the Japanese people make war?” he turns to history and writes: “First, we must not create a national craze. We must also not get carried away by it. In short, we must check ourselves from being incited by the trend of the times.

Second, the Japanese people like abstract concepts and do not make an effort to study concrete, reasonable methods.”

The 1931 Manchurian Incident caused prewar Japanese newspapers to suddenly support war. Even though they were vaguely aware that it was a conspiracy of the Japanese army, newspapers aroused public sentiment for “war” on grounds that Japan could no longer bear the humiliation at having its interests in Manchuria and Mongolia violated, since it heavily depended on the region for survival. Each newspaper dispatched a large number of correspondents and competed to expand the circulation of their papers. At the risk of sounding repetitious, let me once again say we must never repeat the same folly of the prewar years. But unless we are very careful, we could repeat it. This is what I have been worried about during my writing of “Politica Nippon.”

Readers may find this column too wordy, but allow me to mention one more book that also came out this year. It is a picture book titled “Senso no Tsukurikata” (How to make war), created by members of “Ribon Purojekuto” and published by Magazine House. Let me give an outline of the book:

Nearly 60 years ago, our country decided “not to go to war.” But the SDF, whose only purpose was to protect our country, started to go to foreign countries carrying weapons. When other countries appeared ready to attack us, we came to attack them first.

The country made a rule to allow a handful of government officials to decide everything that has to do with war. Television and newspapers came to be government mouthpieces. At school, children were taught what they must do to be good citizens. If they thought someone was not a good citizen, they informed the police. Policemen apprehended people who may not be good citizens….

Recently, as I come across reports about police arresting citizens who distributed antiwar flyers, I cannot help but think the story is turning into reality. The following passage appears near the end of the book:

Up to now, we have been taught that human lives are the most precious thing in the world. But that turned out to be a mistake. Now, the most important thing is the “country.”

I lay down my pen hoping it will never come to that.

― Having Been Together for Nine Years with Our Readers for Whom I Am Grateful ―

I presented a verse entitled “Ippon no Waribashi” (A pair of chopsticks) in the November 23, 2004 Politica Nippon column that appeared in The Asahi Shimbun under the title “Mountains in Japan are rotting!” I wrote, “Perhaps someone could set my words to music.” Kayo Fujino, Yasuo Kajino and Tetsuya Yamada kindly responded to my request and sent me music to go with the words.

In particular, singer Fujino complemented my verse with beautiful lyrics like “Forest come back to life / With sunlight streaming through the trees” and recorded the song in her beautiful voice on a CD (piano: Kumi Mizuno, arrangement: Makiko Toda). I plan to play it to fellow members of a movement to protect mountains and forests.

Throughout the nine years that this column ran, I received letters from many readers. Thank you very much. In particular, I wish to express my sincere gratitude to those who wrote to me about their war experiences. I apologize for not being able to respond to all of you but I am grateful that we could share our thoughts.

(2004/12/29)

http://www.asahi.com/column/hayano/eng/TKY200412290126.html

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