Remilitarizing Japan

New Left Review

Volumn , Issue 29, 2004, Pages 29-45

  McCormack, Gavan ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 6344262244     PISSN: 00286060     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Review

References (45)

1. For details: Glenn Hook and Gavan McCormack, Japan's Contested Constitution, London 2001.
2. Article 3 of the Self-Defense Law, 1954.
3. Kishi Nobusuke, Prime Minister 1957-60, addressing the lower house of the national Diet on 30 September 1958. (Hayano Tōru, 'Kishi shushō mo idai na hatoha datta!?', Asahi shimbun, 14 January 2004.)
4. Zalmay Khalilzad et al, The United States and Asia: Toward a New US Strategy and Force Posture, Rand Corporation, 2001, p. 43.
5. Khalilzad et al, The US and Asia, ch. 2 and 3. A united Korean peninsula is taken for granted in this medium-term view. Better to proactively scale back the American military presence there, and above all render it less provocatively 'visible', Khalilzad argues, in order to be able to keep this vital security foothold for the US-Japan-Korea axis. US troops on the peninsula could both 'reassure Korea and influence Japan toward peaceful behaviour', pp. 48-9.
6. Recommendation 3 of the Khalilzad report reads, 'Support efforts in Japan to revise its constitution, to expand its horizon beyond territorial defense, and to acquire capabilities for supporting coalition operations.' The 'Britain of the Far East' is from Richard Armitage, 'The United States and Japan: Advancing Toward a Mature Partnership', Institute for National Strategic Studies, National Defence University, Washington 2000.
7. Michael Swaine, Rachel Swanger and Takashi Kawakami, Japan and Ballistic Missile Defence, Rand Corporation, 2001.
8. One commentator at least referred ironically to the fortuitous timing of the North Korean projectile, which far overshot the Japanese coastline and plunged harmlessly into the sea: Yomiuri Shimbun, 2 September 1998; see Swaine et al, Japan and BMD, p.43.
9. US Department of Defence, The United States Security Strategy for the East Asia-Pacific Region, Washington, DC 1998, p. 21.
10. 'Head in sand', Asahi shimbun, 5 October 2001; 'boots', Asahi shimbun, 9 October 2001; 'baseball diamond', Yomiuri shimbun, 11 June 2003.
11. 'Head in sand', Asahi shimbun, 5 October 2001; 'boots', Asahi shimbun, 9 October 2001; 'baseball diamond', Yomiuri shimbun, 11 June 2003.
12. 'Head in sand', Asahi shimbun, 5 October 2001; 'boots', Asahi shimbun, 9 October 2001; 'baseball diamond', Yomiuri shimbun, 11 June 2003.
13. Asahi shimbun, 19 March 2004.
14. Kyodo, 15 September 2003; Asahi shimbun, 9 October 2003.
15. Kyodo, 15 September 2003; Asahi shimbun, 9 October 2003.
16. 'Theological quibble', Maeda Tetsuo, 'Tōhoku Ajia no anzen hoshō to kempō 9-jō', Sekai, October 2003, p. 46; 'international common sense', Amaki Naoto, 'Jieitai hitei wa higenjitsuteki gomakashi wa genkai da,' Ronza, February 2004, p. 31,
17. 'Theological quibble', Maeda Tetsuo, 'Tōhoku Ajia no anzen hoshō to kempō 9-jō', Sekai, October 2003, p. 46; 'international common sense', Amaki Naoto, 'Jieitai hitei wa higenjitsuteki gomakashi wa genkai da,' Ronza, February 2004, p. 31,
18. quoting Koizumi speaking on 23 October 2001; 'national army', Asahi shimbun, 22 February 2004.
19. When, in April 2004, a Fukuoka District Court found Koizumi's visit to Yasukuni Shrine to be unconstitutional, he simply shrugged it off, calling the ruling 'inexplicable'. Asahi shimbun, 17 July 2004.
20. Okamoto Susumu, 'Donna kokkai ga haken o shōnin shitaka', Sekai, April 2004, p. 23.
21. The actual scale of the SDF is not widely appreciated. Its army, at 148,000, is bigger than the British, Italian or French; its navy, in pure tonnage terms, is the fifth largest in the world (after the US, Russia, China and the UK); and its airforce, the twelfth largest in the world, is bigger than Israel's. It has a high proportion of officers and its equipment is the very best. Military spending, at 1 per cent of Japan's vast GDP, is currently second in the world.
22. Asia Times, 19 February 2004.
23. Japan Times, 16 May 2004.
24. NHK television, 17 June 2004.
25. The UN term tōitsu sareta shiki was rendered as fōgō sareta shireibu. Editorial, Asahi shimbun, 18 June 2004.
26. Asahi polls reported opposition falling to 55 per cent in December, 48 per cent in January, and 41 (vs 42 in favour) in March. Yomiuri found 53 per cent in favour by January, and 58 by February. Mainichi found a low of 16 per cent pro-dispatch rising to a high of 50 per cent by March 2004. Asahi shimbun, 23 February and 21 March, 2004; Yomiuri shimbun, 27 February 2004; Mainichi shimbun, 8 March 2004. 21 Asahi shimbun, 26 September 2003.
27. Asahi polls reported opposition falling to 55 per cent in December, 48 per cent in January, and 41 (vs 42 in favour) in March. Yomiuri found 53 per cent in favour by January, and 58 by February. Mainichi found a low of 16 per cent pro-dispatch rising to a high of 50 per cent by March 2004. Asahi shimbun, 23 February and 21 March, 2004; Yomiuri shimbun, 27 February 2004; Mainichi shimbun, 8 March 2004. 21 Asahi shimbun, 26 September 2003.
28. Asahi polls reported opposition falling to 55 per cent in December, 48 per cent in January, and 41 (vs 42 in favour) in March. Yomiuri found 53 per cent in favour by January, and 58 by February. Mainichi found a low of 16 per cent pro-dispatch rising to a high of 50 per cent by March 2004. Asahi shimbun, 23 February and 21 March, 2004; Yomiuri shimbun, 27 February 2004; Mainichi shimbun, 8 March 2004. 21 Asahi shimbun, 26 September 2003.
29. Asahi polls reported opposition falling to 55 per cent in December, 48 per cent in January, and 41 (vs 42 in favour) in March. Yomiuri found 53 per cent in favour by January, and 58 by February. Mainichi found a low of 16 per cent pro-dispatch rising to a high of 50 per cent by March 2004. Asahi shimbun, 23 February and 21 March, 2004; Yomiuri shimbun, 27 February 2004; Mainichi shimbun, 8 March 2004. 21 Asahi shimbun, 26 September 2003.
30. See table in Maeda Hisao, '2004 nendo bōei yosanan o kiru', Gunshuku mondai shiryō, April 2004, p. 47.
31. Takao Hishinuma and Eiji Hirose, 'US official says Japan "not just some ATM"', Daily Yomiuri Online, 10 October 2003.
32. Swaine et al., Japan and BMD, p. 67. Whether it would work is unknown. The best scientific and military opinion seems to be that the present system is unproven, but that protection would be confined to places within a 15km radius of the PAC-3 batteries. The capital and major (US) base complexes might be protected, but much of Japan would not be. See Handa Shigeru, 'Misairu bōei tōnyū giman o abaku,' Gendai, March 2004; Leo Sartori, 'Bush's Missile Defense System: Does it Pass Muster?', Centre for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, Washington, DC 2003.
33. Asahi shimbun, 20 December 2003.
34. See my The Emptiness of Japanese Affluence, New York 2001, and 'The End of Japan's Construction State?', NLR 13, Jan-Feb 2002.
35. Sydney Morning Herald, 18 September 2001.
36. Sakakibara Eisuke, 'Japanese nationalism: Conservatives have derailed', Japan Times, 2 May 2004.
37. On 22 July 2004 the Financial Times reported that: 'John Bolton, US undersecretary of state for arms control, said in Seoul yesterday that Libya's decision last year to abandon its nuclear programme was a blueprint for how North Korea could improve relations with the outside world. Mr Bolton urged Kim Jong Il, North Korea's leader, to consult his Libyan counterpart, Colonel Muammer Gadaffi, about Tripoli's decision. He said Libya was already benefiting from the lifting of some US sanctions, saying hotels in Tripoli were "teeming with western businessmen".'
38. For a comprehensive list of the legislation: Richard Tanter, 'With eyes wide shut: Japan, Heisei Militarization and the Bush Doctrine', Peter Van Ness and Mel Gurtov, eds, Asia and the Bush Doctrine, New York, forthcoming.
39. Asahi shimbun, 28 May and 3 July 2004.
40. For recent discussion on the theme of reviving nationalism: Eugene Matthews, 'Japan's New Nationalism', Foreign Affairs, November-December 2003 , and Steven Clemons, 'Nationalism - Old News or New Worry?', Daily Yomiuri, 9 December 2003. See also McCormack, 'New Tunes for an Old Song: Nationalism and Identity in Post-Cold War Japan', in Roy Starrs, ed., Nations Under Siege: Globalization and Nationalism in Asia, New York 2002; Ishida Hidenari, Ukai Satoshi, Komori Yōichi and Takahashi Tetsuya, '21 seiki no manifesuto - datsu "parasaito nashonarizumu"', Sekai, August 2000.
41. For recent discussion on the theme of reviving nationalism: Eugene Matthews, 'Japan's New Nationalism', Foreign Affairs, November-December 2003 , and Steven Clemons, 'Nationalism - Old News or New Worry?', Daily Yomiuri, 9 December 2003. See also McCormack, 'New Tunes for an Old Song: Nationalism and Identity in Post-Cold War Japan', in Roy Starrs, ed., Nations Under Siege: Globalization and Nationalism in Asia, New York 2002; Ishida Hidenari, Ukai Satoshi, Komori Yōichi and Takahashi Tetsuya, '21 seiki no manifesuto - datsu "parasaito nashonarizumu"', Sekai, August 2000.
42. For recent discussion on the theme of reviving nationalism: Eugene Matthews, 'Japan's New Nationalism', Foreign Affairs, November-December 2003 , and Steven Clemons, 'Nationalism - Old News or New Worry?', Daily Yomiuri, 9 December 2003. See also McCormack, 'New Tunes for an Old Song: Nationalism and Identity in Post-Cold War Japan', in Roy Starrs, ed., Nations Under Siege: Globalization and Nationalism in Asia, New York 2002; Ishida Hidenari, Ukai Satoshi, Komori Yōichi and Takahashi Tetsuya, '21 seiki no manifesuto - datsu "parasaito nashonarizumu"', Sekai, August 2000.
43. For recent discussion on the theme of reviving nationalism: Eugene Matthews, 'Japan's New Nationalism', Foreign Affairs, November-December 2003 , and Steven Clemons, 'Nationalism - Old News or New Worry?', Daily Yomiuri, 9 December 2003. See also McCormack, 'New Tunes for an Old Song: Nationalism and Identity in Post-Cold War Japan', in Roy Starrs, ed., Nations Under Siege: Globalization and Nationalism in Asia, New York 2002; Ishida Hidenari, Ukai Satoshi, Komori Yōichi and Takahashi Tetsuya, '21 seiki no manifesuto - datsu "parasaito nashonarizumu"', Sekai, August 2000.
44. Wada Haruki, Tōhoku Ajia kyōdō no ie, Heibonsha 2003, p. 166.
45. See, for example, the analyses by the military affairs specialist Maeda Tetsuo, 'Kyūsoku ni rinsen jōsei totonoeru jieitai', Sekai, April 2004, and Kang Sangjung of Tokyo Uniuversity, in Kang Sangjung and Katō Shūichi, 'Rekishi no bunkiten ni tatte', Ronza, April 2004. Kang has described the US operations in Iraq as an aggressive war comparable to Japan's 1931 invasion of China - both characterized by the belief that military superiority would be decisive. In his view, Iraq was America's Manchukuo, a base from which to try to transform the Middle East as Japan had once thought to transform the whole of China, and just as likely to mark the beginnings of imperial decline.