Rethinking Japan: The Politics of Contested Nationalism
By Arthur Stockwin and Kweku Ampiah
Lexington Books (2017)
ISBN: 978-1-4985-3792-6
Review by Sir Hugh Cortazzi
(The following is an opinion piece based on this book originally published by The Japan Times on 9 March).
Japan’s continuing importance should not need restating, but Japan’s future prospects are not so clear. Serious questions need to be asked about the direction and policies being pursued by the government of Prime Minister Abe Shinzo.
An important new book Rethinking Japan: The Politics of Contested Nationalism by two senior British scholars of Japan Arthur Stockwin and Kweku Ampiah, discusses the main contentious issues facing Japan. Their worrying conclusion is that ‘The new Japan that is emerging…will be more controlled, less democratic, less oriented towards peace, more internationally assertive, more inclined to confront neighboring countries, more unequal, more stressed, more concerned to flaunt national traditions reflecting the ethos of a militaristic past, more inward looking and less internationalist than the world became used to in the postwar years’.
This is a disturbing conclusion. How far is it justified? The authors, after outlining the political history of Japan since the war, discuss in some depth the changes wrought in Japan’s political system by electoral reform and the decline of the factions (habatsu). They draw particular attention to the growing strength of right wing nationalism in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and stress the importance for Japan of success being achieved by ‘Abenomics’.
Their concerns focus on five main issues, namely constitutional revision, the ‘Designated Secrets Law’ and freedom of speech, historical revisionism, legislating for collective self-defense, relations with Japan’s neighbors and with the rest of the world. Each issue is discussed in some detail and the arguments set out logically.
The LDP’s proposals for revision of the postwar constitution are worrying. Apart from the proposed amendments to Article 9, which could undermine Japan’s commitment to peace, they detract from Japan’s commitment to upholding universal human rights by asserting the primacy of Japan’s ‘unique’ cultural heritage.
Prime Minister Abe, who has recently won endorsement for a third term in office, has managed to achieve a two-thirds majority in both houses of the diet. It would thus theoretically be possible for the LDP to get parliamentary approval for amendments to the constitution and seek the endorsement of the electorate in a referendum, although it is not clear how far he could rely on his allies in Komeito to support what would be a risky strategy.
One of Mr. Abe’s achievements has been stability. Any attempt to change the constitution would arouse large-scale public protest and would be destabilizing. Mr, Abe is a pragmatist and should recognize that his economic policies cannot succeed unless stability is maintained.
The Americans saw the Japanese government as ‘a leaky sieve’. To meet this criticism the ‘Designated Secrets’ Law was pushed through the diet without adequate debate. Its provisions, which remind some of the absurd lengths to which the prewar military went to preserve secrecy, do not contain adequate safeguards to prevent action being taken against whistleblowers and investigative journalists.
The law does not seem to have been misused so far, but the way in which NHK has been manipulated to support government policies and the pressures applied to deter critical comments even in prestigious foreign newspapers such as the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung are disturbing. These measures suggest a government, which is oversensitive to critical reporting and waiting for the chance to act against its critics.
Freedom of speech can only be preserved if the Japanese media uphold the Guardian’s slogan ‘facts are sacred, comment is free’. Unfortunately parts of the Japanese media act like pussycats being stroked and fed through the kisha club system. If tested we must hope that they will show their claws and use them to defend their freedom.
Historical revisionism is grist to the advocates of constitutional amendments and of controls on press freedom. In the ‘post truth’ society promoted by Donald Trump who sees the media as his enemies, the more frequently lies are repeated the more they tend to be believed. As a survivor from war service in Asia, I find it particularly difficult to swallow the lies and distortions of Japanese historical revisionists, but we should not get this side issue out of proportion.
The way in which legislation for collective self-defense was enacted by ‘fiat’ aroused anger among devotees of Japan’s peace constitution. But Japan was under great pressure, both from its American ally and from the growing military power of China and the militarization of islets in the South China Sea, to beef up it defense forces and commit them to support their ally. If this legislation had not been enacted Japan would have been in even greater difficulties with President Trump than it is today.
Japan’s relations with China are complicated by history as well as the way in which bilateral trade and investment have developed. The Japanese government mishandled the Senkaku problem and official visits to the Yasukuni shrine were provocative, but the Chinese government allowed nationalist anti-Japanese sentiment to get out of hand and blame for the present unhappy relationship rests to a significant extent with the Chinese authorities.
Relations with the Republic of Korea (ROK) ought to be much better than they are. The Japanese handling of the ‘comfort women’ problem under pressure from the right-wing revisionists and Japanese harping on their right to the barren Takeshima rocks in the Sea of Japan were insensitive.
Japan, the ROK and China all need to concentrate now on countering the growing menace from North Korea. Pragmatism and restraint should guide Japan’s policies in Asia.
Japan is becoming more assertive in relations with the rest of the world We shall have to get used to the change that has come rather late. But Japan’s newfound assertiveness is hampered by the still inadequate command of English and failure to speak out in public of Japanese in international meetings and by the reluctance of Japanese young people to study abroad.
Japan’s future hangs to a great extent on the success of Abenomics and on the handling of the demographic crisis facing Japan. How can Japan cope with an aging and declining population while maintaining its economic achievements unless it alters radically its immigration policies and its obsession with its cultural ‘uniqueness’?
The immediate problem for Japan is how to adjust to the unpredictable President Trump. Prime Minister Abe has tried hard to get alongside the President. This may work to Japan’s advantage but there are dangers in cooperating too closely with a populist leader with autocratic tendencies.
We must hope that Mr. Abe’s pragmatism and the Japanese people’s adherence to democratic principles and human rights will be sufficiently strong to overcome the threats facing Japan today and prove that the fears of the authors of this thought provoking book are not borne out by events.