Emotionalism in Japan

...Emotionalism in Japan BY MICHAEL BERGER Tokyo This is Expo season in Japan, another milestone on the long road back from disaster But while national pride rises many intellectuals here fear the ever-expanding prosperity is in fact leading the country back along a familiar path to militarism "We are heading for trouble, we see some of it already," said a young political worker close to the mainstream of the ruling Liberal Democratic party "To Americans and other foreigners, we may look ready to play this 'greater role' you talk about, but we are tragically unprepared "The new image of the ugly Japanese abroad has been well documented recently," he continued "But we have no program, indeed no ideas, about how to present a better face to the world-to make trends, not enemies " The predicament, some analysts feel, is remarkably like the one that prevailed in prewar years, when the nation mistakenly thought itself destined to play a major part in world affairs Attempting to explain the recurrence, Juno Eto, a noted Japanese writer, recently asserted that when his countrymen are in an underdog role, they react almost heroically, but when in a superior position, they tend to lose perspective "This was clearly shown," he said, "in the concept of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere before and during World War II Japan began to think it could become the leader of Asia I think the present situation resembles that one Our trading firms in Southeast Asia are like the Kwantung Army which invaded China " In other words, the attitude Senator J William Fulbnght has called "arrogance of power" has a history in Japan, too "That is something not enough Japanese realize," lamented a young Tokyo professor "We are an emotional people Our pacifism is emotional, which is dangerous, because there is not enough deep thinking behind it Now people are attacking the inscription on the Hiroshima atom bomb monument They want to wipe off those words which say, 'We [mankind] will not make this mistake again' There are many Japanese who regard this as a national disgrace They take 'we' to mean the Japanese They don't grasp the deep meaning "So you see," he continued, "we are not changing very much from generation to generation after all That is why I feel that to expect great things from Japan today is not realistic-it is dangerous " Michael Berger is on the staff of the Pacific Stars and Stripes The internationalists here realize this danger keenly, but it is not they who make policy decisions And most of those who do, the critics teel, are alarmingly insular-minded The issues of debate in the Diet, for instance, are most often domestic-high prices, the wretched environment, the education crisis-while opinion polls show clearly that a majority of voters do not think much about Asian development, military alliances or even Okinawa Michio Royama, an outward-looking intellectual who has studied both in America and at the London Institute of Strategic Studies, is hopeful that rational arguments can overcome what he calls "naive nationalism" in Japan, even though he knows the influence of people like himself is limited As he describes the situation, "there are some in our country who think only in the outdated terms of prestige and power when discussing nuclear weapons or increased military power " Royama however, is not as worried over conventional military growth as he is about nuclear matters "We still can't find enough young men to fill our quotas, and to tram them to use sophisticated equipment will take from five to eight years It is much cheaper, really," he points out, "to spend a little more on our nuclear program and get weapons Cheaper than building and manning many ships and planes I am afraid this may become a persuasive argument " It will run into much opposition, Royama believes, but recent studies reveal that most Japanese, young and old, feel important pohcy decisions are "the government's responsibility" This reflects not only the traditionally passive attitude of the Japanese toward their leaders, but the shallow roots of transplanted democratic values It suggests, too, that even a government decision to go nuclear will not necessarily be stopped by public opinion Nor would it be blocked by the well-publicized Article Nine of the Japanese Constitution, which renounces war as an instrument of national policy Legal interpretations supported by the Supreme Court have already declared weapons for defense allowable-and that means all weapons "I think a fully armed Japan, with nuclear weapons, would be a far bigger threat to America than even the Chinese," Royama insists "If Japan becomes a nuclear nation, relations between America and Japan will deteriorate " Actually, most proponents of a military buildup have been denying they want nuclear weapons-albert with qualifications Yasuhiro Nakasone, for example, the ambitious Cabinet-level Director of the national Defense Agency who hopes someday to be Prime Minister, has reversed himself since accepting his portfolio in December A year ago he was keeping his options open—he enjoyed being called "a Japanese de Gaulle " Today Nakasone declares he is against nuclear weapons, at least, according to a recent newspaper interview, "for the time being" "Now you know why we are worried," said the young Tokyo professor quoted earlier "The same nations who hated us 30 years ago still do-with good reason-yet here we are, rearming, keeping our nuclear options open, and sending people abroad utterly unprepared to understand or even accept foreigners, especially Asians " "I believe that Japan will not become a stabilizing force, but a destabilizing force, in Asia " At a recent world affairs conference Edwin O Reischauer, former US Ambassador to Tokyo, voiced a similar opinion Japan, he pointed out, is isolated from the rest of Asia-indeed the world-by historical differences in language culture and psychology Ironically, he was among those American officials who long urged Japan to play a greater role in Asia-separating, of course, economic from military expansion Visiting here a short while ago, Reischauer had dinner with a group of young business executives and spent much of the evening trying to convince them that Japan did not need nuclear weapons "He did not succeed, ' said one of the men who was present "The terrible thing is the reasons given him for full rearmament—not now, but in time—were not based upon real thinking, but on what we call kan-joron—emotional feeling "This is just the kind of thing which characterized our prewar leaders," he continued "And I am afraid that our present leaders, and even the next generation, still are heavily influenced by this very Japanese way of acting " There are even a few in the current government who sense this One is Kuchi Miyazawa Minister of International Trade and Industry, a man who has had dealings with Americans for a long time "The Japanese," he told Kyodo News Service reporters, "never have really experienced working together with peoples of different races Moreover, Japan never has prepared its people for this as other countries have done, and that is why I believe Japan will most likely fail in coping with her problems in Asia " It would seem, then, that Japan, whose image abroad is of a rapidly and radically transformed culture, has not changed enough If this is truly the case-and there is little evidence it is not-the hopes Washington has so confidently pinned on this nation for the future of a peaceful Asia are bound to be disappointed For in the final analysis, an economically prosperous Japan may once again feel impelled to resort to 'gunboat diplomacy" to protect its interests...