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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe

Discussions on amending the Constitution are ongoing in Japan. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appears to be particularly set on enacting an amendment of Article 9, one of the core features of the so-called "Peace Constitution," which forever renounces war as a means of settling international disputes and forbids Japan from maintaining an army, navy, air force, or any other military force or engaging in any sort of military action.

Abe and other revisionists in the Liberal Democratic Party want to amend the Constitution not because of some deficiency in the Constitution itself but because of the worsening security environment caused by North Korea's development of nuclear weapons and missiles. Abe wants to abolish the exclusively defensive security policy, whereby Japan is restricted to deploying its defense capacity only when attacked and is supposed to limit such action to the absolute minimum required. However, the North Korean threat is nothing new, and even under the current Constitution, Japan has managed to strengthen its application of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty and maintain its defense forces.

Japan's Constitution and Article 9 in particular are symbolic of the country's posture. From the 1930s to the first half of the 1940s, Japanese colonialism and invasive militarism brought great suffering to other Asians, and the country's spirit of remorse and self-discipline in repentance over its previous excesses are at the basis of Article 9. It is aimed at keeping Japan from becoming a military power again after World War II. To maintain order in Asia, it is important for Japan to keep a low profile in the international community.

It has now been more than 70 years since that war ended, and more and more people have come to regard Japanese submissiveness with dissatisfaction. "In a world where the strong prey on the weak and every other nation pursues its own interests, why should Japan be the only submissive country? Why should Japan alone be labeled an aggressor when war has been a common occurrence throughout human history?" This is the sort of complaint heard among conservative factions.

North Korea's kidnapping of Japanese citizens and its development of nuclear weapons and missile technology provide a basis for justifying claims that Japan has to give up its low-profile stance. "Japan needs to have high-tech weaponry to protect itself, and if and when the United States attacks North Korea to put a stop to its nuclear ambitions, Japan must join in the effort." This is the mood behind the push to revise Article 9.

To Japanese conservatives, those who claim that Japan should achieve peace through dialogue with North Korea are seen as disagreeable weaklings. For Japan to change its posture, North Korea has to continue to be the bad guy, and tension on the Korean Peninsula has to be maintained. This sort of thinking was apparent in Prime Minister Abe's meeting with President Moon Jae-in at the Pyeongchang Olympics when he requested that South Korea go ahead with its joint military drills with the American forces. This amounts to arrogant, indiscreet meddling in South Korean internal affairs. Such arrogance is rampant among Japan's political leaders and in its diplomatic bureaucracy.

It is unfortunate that this sort of egocentrism is spreading in Japan. For a few years now, a moving story has been told about how some small factories in Tokyo's Shitamachi shopping district were to provide sleds for the Jamaican bobsled team to use in competing in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games. The Japanese bobsleds were slow and their frames did not pass inspection, so the Jamaican team said they would like to use Latvian sleds.

Jiro Yamaguchi

Newspapers at the time reported that the Japanese factories demanded to be compensated for losses suffered because of the broken contract. It is only natural that the team would decide against using sleds that do not perform well. The Japanese made the story look good by leaving out the part about how their sleds were turned down because they did not come up to standard. This hints at what we can expect from Japan in the future.

There is no need for the Japanese to be purposely servile, but they should clearly acknowledge their shortcomings. And if they make no effort to correct them, it will weaken the country in the long run.

By Jiro Yamaguchi, professor of political science at Hosei University

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