Japan Worries about Its Image

...Now America has asked Japan to take part in the Persian Gulf war...

...It was America that forced on Japan an unbalanced Constitution that prohibits sending troops abroad...

...And America has been trying to limit the role of the military within Japan...

...At the moment, therefore, the Constitution is in no danger...

...It is time for a fresh approach to the Arab-Israeli problem," said politician Yoshiko Ohtaka, who heads a Mideast friendship committee...

...Others complain that while Japanese diplomats in Kuwait were praised for giving shelter to Americans after the Iraqi invasion, the reaction from Washington and the U. S. press was far more subdued than the lavish attention paid to Canadian envoys who protected Americans during the Iranian hostage crisis...

...The Japan Communist Party newspaper likewise accused Saddam and his government of committing war crimes, and the conservative daily Sankei, which rarely finds itself in agreement with the Left, also ran a series of commentaries condemning the Iraqi leader...

...Echoing American revisionist historians, some newspaper commentators and panelists on instant-analysis TV shows have maintained that just as Franklin D. Roosevelt allowed Japan to attack Pearl Harbor in order to get the U.S...

...he continued...

...The opposition parties have not exhibited any leadership qualities either...

...It wasn't just Iraq that lost the war," says a Japanese official ruefully...

...Recently, a familiar far Right theme here has crept into the debate...

...I can understand why some Americans are angry at us— I'm angry...

...It called for the establishment of a privately-funded Japanese volunteer corps to participate in the Mideast rebuilding process, and to aid infrastructure projects in less developed countries around the world...

...We did too, if you consider our image abroad...

...Yukio Okamoto, a former government official, is even more blunt...

...Frustration with Tokyo's indecisiveness is evident at all levels of Japanese society...

...It was the Western powers, fearful of the spread of the Iranian Revolution, that armed Saddam Hussein and made him what he was," wrote Masahiro Ozutsumi of Tokyo...

...True, they are nowhere near a consensus...

...asked editorial writer Yukio Matsuyama in the mass circulation Asahi Shimbun...

...He wants the law to let medical and logistical support teams from Japan's Self-Defense Force (SDF) participate in overseas peacekeeping operations...

...forces was used to buy materials made in America...

...We never got any credit for that, either in the media or from American leaders...

...People who claim that America was pursuing its own agenda in the Persian Gulf, he added, "have only a smattering of knowledge, or are totally ignorant...

...The key question, he believes, "is whether to continue our subservience to the U.S., or to adopt an omnidirectional diplomatic policy...

...So far, they have been satisfied with wringing concessions from the LDP in exchange for supporting its $9 billion Gulf war pledge to the U.S...

...Japanese are irritated as well by what they see as hypocritical American policy in the Gulf...

...Most Japanese newspaper editorials concurred...

...Business leaders like Sony Chairman Akio Morita, noting that today Japan is being called upon to play a more active role in global politics and collective security, now speak openly of the need "to be flexible, to consider constitutional revisions, and not stick to the rigid idea that the Constitution is absolute...

...The hard-line position in part reflects a change in Japan's economic relations with the Middle East...

...By the time the ground war erupted in February, more than 60 per cent said that although military involvement was out of the question, Japan should be doing something more visible than, in Tokyo businessman Kunio Yoshida's words, "writing checks...

...Those who rant about 'protecting the Peace Constitution," says Matsuyama, "ought to go out into the international community to learn how that can be done without turning Japan into a selfish nation —content with peace only for itself...

...Public opinion polls taken last summer found that an over whelming 75 per cent of Japanese wanted no role, financial or otherwise, in the effort to force Saddam to leave Kuwait...

...Saddam Hussein," said the influential Japan Economic Journal, "should be prosecuted under international law...

...Under the circumstances, he went on, "it is not surprising that Japanese diplomacy tends to be characterized by insensitivity, makeshift policy and overreaction, following outdated precedents...

...Following the 1973 oil shock, Japan instituted apro-Arab policy designed to secure its major sources of energy...

...Ignore it...

...and its initiative for setting up a volunteer peacekeeping force...

...The factional politics and the seniority system of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)," he wrote, "haveproducedleaders without considering their diplomatic capabilities—in an era when the key to national security is cultivating as many international allies as possible...

...With the war now ended, "Japanfaces a crucial decision," says Toru Yano, dean of Kyoto University's Center for Southeast Asian Studies...

...POSTWAR QUESTIONS Japan Worries about Its Image By Michael Berger Tokyo The Japanese, a people with a reputation for being slow to change, have come a long way since Saddam Hussein launched his Kuwait invasion last August...

...Nevertheless, the Japanese have come 180 degrees in merely addressing the issue...

...occupation authorities after World War II, prohibits the establishment of a national military...

...Just who was it that let President Saddam Hussein build up his confidence in his military power in the first place...

...But the creation of the SDF, encouraged by the United States, has withstood a series of High Court tests over the years because none of its troops may be sent overseas for any purpose...

...Sakuji Yoshimura, a professor at Waseda University, asserted that "the Gulf war was a trap set by America to crush Iraq...

...Moreover, during the Gulf war Japanese commentators and government officials openly praised Israel for refraining from retaliation after suffering Iraqi missile attacks...

...After 45 years of relative isolation from international power struggles—due largely to policies conceived in Washington—they have begun a vigorous nationwide debate on formerly taboo subjects...

...Japanese companies consequently avoided direct trade with Israel...

...Yet there is a recurring theme to their ongoing discussion: that the failure to transform emerging ideas into meaningful changes will deprive Japan of the political voice in international councils its economic status would seem to merit...

...Thus two-way trade with Israel, though still only a fraction of Japan's $23 billion worth of commerce with Arab nations in 1989, has tripled over the last few years to $1.5 billion...

...It is true that we did not act swiftly enough," a government official said, "yet it also is true that we donated more money to support the Gulf war than any non-Arab nation, and that close to 80 per cent of the money we designated specifically to support U.S...

...In February, too, a group of more than 60 prominent Japanese, annoyed by what they termed their government's unimaginative response to American requests for more concrete backing during the conflict, purchased a full-page ad in a major newspaper...

...It is really shameful that our leaders cannot make up their minds what we should do," declared taxi driver Kotaro Suzuki...

...In 198 8 the Foreign Ministers of the two countries exchanged visits for the first time and initiated annual working-level political talks...

...In a burst of letters to editors, ordinary citizens have expressed similarly strong views about American policies and Washington's demands on Japan...

...What is it that Americans want...

...But a fresh approach is needed most of all in Japan's ruling political party, Asahi's, Matsuyama suggested recently...

...Japan's so-called Peace Constitution, virtually dictated by the U.S...

...Three Japanese automobile companies are currently doing business in Israel, and Japanese electronic products can be found on store shelves in such cities as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem...

...At the same time, many Japanese are reacting with equal emotion to what they perceive as America's failure to give credit where they believe it is justified...

...What should we do about the uproar that would arise throughout Asia if Japanese troops were sent overseas...

...We ought to be grateful to America for smashing Saddam Hussein's Iraq," wrote defense analyst Masamichi Inoki...

...Michael Berger contributes frequently to The New Leader from Japan...

...I hope Japan can play a role in working toward a settlement that will be fair to both sides...

...As Japan reduced its dependency on Mideast oil from 85 per cent in 1973 to 65 per cent in 1990, however, and as the stronger yen pushed down the dollardenominated price, attitudes began to shift...

...What precedent is there for a country to unilaterally commit its troops overseas and then press other nations to bear the financial burden for that decision...

...into World War II, George Bush tricked Saddam Hussein into invading Kuwait...

...But the conspiracy scenario has made little headway...