JAPAN:the Old Gang Is Back

...Beheiren's position stems from its decision to cooperate with all other new left organizations in the anti-treaty fight, a highly symbolic policy in faction-ridden Japanese politics, and one which has had a major influence in minimizing squabbles in the student movement...

...While the combined opposition was able to mobilize millions of Japanese for the protests last fall, the leadership realizes that it will take many more to move the almost intransigent LDP...

...A decade later these same "trends" still exist, with Japan having become an appendage, if not a full partner, in the United States' Asian counter-revolutionary crusade...

...The differences between the "reformist" parties and the "new left" concern strategy and tactics...

...Notwithstanding the desire for a return to past glories, it is not likely that the Japanese leadership in the immediate future will make any moves with a potential for making the Japanese seem interventionists or aggressors...

...global strategy of counterrevolution put the emphasis on the status quo...

...The list could be extended...

...Sato, his Liberal Democratic Party, and most of the business community have no qualms about using massive repressive techniques, as demonstrated by their employment of detention, the establishment of check-points in student and worker residential sections of Tokyo and Osaka, and the arrest of more than 2,000 persons during the November, 1969, anti-Security Treaty demonstrations...

...In late November, 1969, after extensive exchanges and negotiations, Sato arrived in Washington for talks with President Nixon and seemingly received agreement on a 1972 date for the return of Okinawa to Japanese control, though the actual communique on the agreement stipulates only "consultations regarding specific arrangements for accomplishing the early reversion of Okinawa without detriment to the security of the Far East, including Japan...

...Second, there is speculation that millions of workers might be brought into the struggle...

...Also included would be LDP faction leader Kono Ichiro, who was a wartime specialist on economic conquest, and Kaya Okinori, who is chairman of the powerful LDP Tokyo Federation and former Minister in General Tojo's cabinet...

...Government seems patently absurd...

...Few in the "new left" favor the parliamentary road, though there is disagreement over the virtues of using elections for educational purposes...

...Almost immediately Kishi and many others on the "depurged" roster assumed leading positions in Japanese politics and moved into power through the formation of the so-called Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in 1955...

...From his experience as Vice President in the Eisenhower Administration, Richard Nixon had developed a close working relationship with key Japanese conservatives, especially Kishi Nobuske...

...Setting the tone for the seminars was Kogoro Uemura, president of the powerful Federation of Economic Organizations...

...While not all industrialists and political leaders held Kogoro's unabashed view of the relationship between economic expansion and Japan's role in preserving "security" in Asia, his position, as spokesman for Japan's largest corporations, organized into FEO, carried a great deal of weight...

...The division within the opposition is between the Left "reformist" parties and the "new left...

...The context for this dramatic reversal was the gathering of a revolutionary storm throughout Asia...

...In 1960, Japan was wracked by massive demonstrations strongly anti-American in tone...

...Yet there is the nagging fact that a growing number of Japanese are expressing, as part of the apprehension over their own government's rightward drift, definite signs of anti-Americanism...

...Yet it was becoming increasingly apparent that control of the Diet bore no relationship to control over public opinion...

...While the focus of current international attention on Japan revolves around the world's fair, "Expo '70," and its themes of tremendous growth and progress, the overbearing reality of postwar Japan is that this is a nation ruled by many of the same men who pillaged Asia, and made war against the United States...

...Security Treaty, gradually increase her defense capability, and is obliged to contribute to the maintenance of peace in the Far East...

...Zengakuren is noted for favoring mass disruptive demonstrations and street fighting known as jitsuryo-ku soshi, and recently more elaborate strategies of urban guerrilla warfare have been tested...

...The third began under the auspices of the Nixon Administration...

...Therefore, when Mr...

...Receiving its mandate from the United States, Japan is moving in earnest to define its role in Asia...

...The most famous student group is Zengakuren (Federation of Student Self-Governing Associations) which has recently effected some unity after nearly a decade of factional proclivity...

...The expansion planned would probably give Japan a navy larger than that of Communist China...

...These squads would be drawn from hundreds of thousands of junior executives given "national moral rearmament" training with the Self-Defense Forces over the past several years...

...JEFFREY P. FREED is a teaching fellow at the University of Oregon, where he lectures on contemporary politics and foreign policy in the Far East, which he visits frequently...

...There are indications that over the next several years efforts will be concentrated in expanding existing trade relations, buying friends through the dispensation of aid, and a buildup in military forces...

...Rather, these forces will be directed toward dealing with the anti-treaty movement...

...The outcome of the election was expected and was indicative of the entire political situation...

...create a system of pro-American reactionary governments starting with Thailand and extending through Laos, South Vietnam, Indonesia, South Korea, and Taiwan, with Japan serving as pro-consul for this vast dependency of nations...

...Over time, however, the old memories of war have faded, replaced by the picture of an industrious people rebuilding their war-torn country...

...Remarkably, this reactionary restoration has been underwritten by the United States as an extension of its Cold War policy, with the process accentuated by the war in Vietnam...

...An important element of this relationship was the compatibility between the former Vice President and the former Prime Minister...

...Expansion of the alliance with the United States has covered three clearly defined phases in which there has been a convergence of U.S...

...In fact, Sato and the LDP have already made plans for such a resignation if it proves necessary, with Sato probably replaced by his close lieutenant, Fukuda Takeo, the present Minister of Finance and a staunch hawk...

...While demonstrations can possibly force Sato to resign, they will not necessarily mean success in getting the treaty abrogated...

...Nixon won the Presidency it was almost inevitable that his projected Asian policy would strongly reflect the views of Kishi's political heir, Prime Minister Sato...

...For most Americans the possibility of a militarist revival in Japan in some way aided or fostered by the U.S...

...The LDP had no fears of losing the elections since representation to the Diet is drawn disproportionately from politically backward, sparsely populated rural areas, where a single vote counts as much as ten cast in the urban centers...

...In outward form the protests now sweeping Japan are focused, as in 1960, on the security treaty...

...What it did do was to warn of trouble to come...

...As long as the conservatives are able to perpetuate their hold over the government, the only short-run result to be expected from this year's turmoil is a continuation of the move to the right—supported, of course, by the United States...

...What Sato and the LDP wanted was some sort of mandate implying popular support for their policies...

...After World War II it was logical for Japanese industry to seek a solution to its problems in expanding trade with Southeast Asia and in getting more favorable treatment in the American market...

...The Okinawa issue was a more difficult one for the conservatives since it involved asking the United States to relinquish control over its most important strategic base in the Far East...

...Beheiren, with its own student following—and joined by Zen Kyoto—likes to use the more traditional forms of mass marches embellished by snake-dancing and sit-ins...

...Nothing more clearly epitomizes the hold of the wartime reactionaries over Japan than the regime of Prime Minister Sato Eisaku...

...Under these circumstances, what was needed was continuity of leadership, not reform, and with the Communist victory in China, and the outbreak of the Korean war, the resurrection of reactionaries began in earnest...

...The JSP, Sohyo, and the JCP are content to oppose the government at the ballot box, and at strictly legal rallies, marches, and demonstrations...

...Contrary to the myth fostered for foreign audiences, Japan's miraculous economic growth has not brought prosperity and welfare to that country's working population...

...Any new incidents could be disastrous...

...The next largest, and newest, group is Zen Kyoto (Joint Struggle Committees) formed by non-Zengakur-en student radicals during the 19681969 demonstrations that closed most of Japan's major universities...

...If this is the trend, and all indications point toward it, then the United States may be able to do in Asia something similar to what it did in earlier decades in Latin America...

...Even beyond this is the definite knowledge that whatever the details of the relationship with the United States, this system has been developed and operated in cooperation with a reactionary Japanese ruling class once responsible for bringing fascism to Japan—and again moving in the same direction...

...What is not likely under this planned military program is growth in the Ground Self-Defense Forces...

...The government's network of secret police and spies has also been increased, with more than 5,000 persons added to the police payrolls for this type of work last year...

...As elsewhere in the world, the U.S...

...The role of the United States in the development of this political aberration is clear...

...The main tactics of the new left involve street fighting, sit-ins, strikes, and other variations of disruptive actions...

...A January, 1969, opinion poll conducted by the respected newspaper Asahi found that sixty-four per cent of those polled were opposed to revision of the constitution's war renunciation clause, and fifty-two per cent favored early termination of the security treaty...

...Given these circumstances, it is no wonder that a growing number of militant students and young people are rejecting reformism in favor of revolution, with many joining a new and relatively unknown Japanese organization called the Red Army, following the politics and style set by the Red Guards in China's Cultural Revolution...

...Twenty-five years after surrender, the men who rule Japan continue to nurture this image of growth, prosperity, and progress...

...The United States was requested to initiate some token removals of bases, and was asked to be extremely careful in its jet flights and transportation of military supplies...

...The "new left" seems to be staking its hopes for success on spreading the movement in three directions: First, there is the feeling that many citizens, outraged by the police-state methods being employed by the government, will join future protests...

...Indeed, as one Southeast Asian government official told Shabecoff, "the Japanese are now creating through economic power what they failed to achieve militarily—the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere...

...But at the same time they would like to disarm the opposition as much as possible without resorting to the use of force...

...occupation authorities and the Japanese ruling class...

...Third, there is always the possibility that the anti-U.S...

...the specific aims of the protests were the repudiation of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty and the ousting of Prime Minister Kishi Nobuske's government...

...Under American guidance Japan became a secure base area for military operations . . ." The net effect of the first two phases was to tie Japan formally into the United States' Asian security network...

...Under Kishi's sponsorship men like him were unabashedly brought back into government service, including his step-brother Sato Eisaku, who was appointed Finance Minister—a position somewhat higher than his role as a ranking bureaucrat in the Transportation Ministry during the war and immediately after...

...Closely affiliated with both Zengakuren and Zen Kyoto is the Anti-War Youth Committee (AWYC), which is a workers' organization founded by Sohyo in 1965 to mobilize its younger members in protests against the Japan-Republic of Korea Treaty of Friendship...

...Until 1960, the U.S.-Japanese alliance had been based on the understanding that Japan's role was to be limited to serving as the forward operational base for the United States in Asia...

...In addition, several divisions of the Ground Self-Defense Forces recently have undergone simi-ilar training, using jeeps, helicopters, armored cars, and small tanks in anticipation of use under the anti-rebellion plan jointly proposed by the police and defense agencies, and approved by Prime Minister Sato last year...

...But images are deceptive, and behind this mask can be found an increasingly grim situation...

...During later years when he was out of public office, Nixon made a number of trips to Japan and had ample opportunity to let himself become convinced of the position of Japan's government leaders...

...economic and military interests, a fact that irritated those Japanese who wanted more independence in their relations with other Asian nations...

...Clearly public opinion was opposed to Sato's policies...

...The second, from 1965 through 1968, focused on the war in Vietnam...

...Finally, there are the numerous citizen groups...

...Young workers are increasingly showing their frustration with the paternalistic organization of industry, while most other workers are becoming fed up with low wages, high prices, poor housing, and too few social welfare benefits...

...they fear too much repression might initiate a full-scale rebellion...

...Moreover, the increase in exports, and investments, brought the bonus of Japanese domination of the economies of South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand, and enlarged spheres of trade elsewhere...

...Both Nixon and Kishi are obsessively anti-Communist, and both have had the experience of being forced from office by "liberals...

...United against Sato, the LDP, big business, the war in Vietnam, and the security treaty, and divided within its own ranks, stands the opposition...

...An LDP "Who's Who" could read like an occupation list of personalities purged after World War II...

...There are already projections for a navy with nuclear powered submarines and cruisers, and for an air force with the most modern fighter-bomber capability, complete with missiles...

...The price of this alliance was the release of such powerful political and economic leaders as Kishi...

...In this respect there is little of substance that separates the present political system from its prewar counterpart...

...First was the need of the Japanese economy to expand trade to survive and, second, the need of the United States for a more active and willing partner in its quest for the domination of the Far East...

...military...

...This "depurging" was not the result of finding him innocent, but rather the culmination of accommodations between the U.S...

...Formerly he was associate director of the International Relations Center at San Francisco State College...

...Since its formation it has gradually moved closer to the student movement, a process estranging it from the Sohyo leadership, although not necessarily the rank and file of the labor movement...

...As outlined in the "Nixon Doctrine," the United States was going to "Asianize" Asia...

...Writing nearly a decade ago in Foreign Affairs, just prior to his tour of duty as U.S...

...A deeper feeling is that Japan over the last twenty-five years has been integrated into the U.S...

...Aside from the chauvinism implicit in this policy, it was conceived as a way of allowing, or pushing, our Asian allies into assuming a greater part of the burden to assure the security of the area against the "Red Menace...

...Kishi was a minister in the wartime cabinet of General Tojo, a post awarded for his key role in organizing the plunder of Manchuria in the 1930s...

...The issue of the bases had been extremely volatile in 1967-1968 because of an increasing number of incidents involving jet crashes on Japanese land, the portage of jet fuel and ammunition through residential districts, visitations by nuclear powered submarines and aircraft carriers, and infringements of the rights of local citizens by the U.S...

...This is an international duty of Japan, and is closely related with the future economic growth of the nation...

...figures from the Japan Economic Research Center disclose that exports rose from $1 billion in 1960 to $2.5 billion in 1965, and to $3.5 billion in 1968...

...Lacking a major parliamentary arm, the loosely knit "new left" consists of student, worker, and citizen organizations...

...Leading the field is the giant Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, followed closely by Tokyo Shibaura Electric, Japan Aircraft Manufacturing, and Japan Steel...

...The first, from 1960 through 1964, involved the fulfillment of agreements made in relation to the signing of the United States-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security in 1960...

...Since Diet representation is gerrymandered to the extreme in favor of the conservatives, a mandate could be defined only as one that would give the LDP two-thirds of the seats, thus enabling it to revise the constitution...

...These are men who have carefully retained or regained their power, selected their successors, and waited for the time when the international political climate would present the opportunity to resurrect their quest for the "Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere...

...In that Great Depression period, import-export restrictions in the French, British, and Dutch colonies in Southeast Asia and U.S...

...Japan is moving in earnest to define its role in Asia...

...A number of scattered instances of this type of reaction did take place during the October-November, 1969, demonstrations, but not enough to warrant any real optimism among the militants...

...Speaking before a nationally televised cabinet session on September 25, 1969, Prime Minister Sato said: "Regarding the problem of Asian security, it is Japan that is gradually going to play the leading role, while the United States will be cooperating from the sideline...

...bases movement will be activated, though this is the least predictable of the three strategies...

...The largest is Beheiren (Japan Peace in Vietnam Committee), which has also emerged as the most important organization in the anti-treaty struggle...

...Two concurrent trends merged to alter and enlarge the terms of the alliance...

...Nor are fears of the emergence of an aggressive, reactionary Japan confined merely to domestic left dissidents...

...JAPAN: the Old Gang Is Back by JEFFREY P. FREED World War II indelibly stamped Japan's presence into the American mind...

...It could include former Prime Minister Ishi-bashi Tanzan (1956-1957), who during the war helped plan and execute the conquest of Asia, and former Foreign Minister Fujiyama Aiichiro, who was a leader and spokesman for the huge corporations, monopolies, and cartels known as zaibatsu that helped to initiate Japan's expansionist tendencies...

...Rounding out this array of force is a contingency plan for organizing civilian anti-riot squads...

...In addition to the use of American bases on Japanese soil as logistical centers from which the war in Vietnam was carried on, Japanese business was subsidized in its development of military-related industry specializing in the production of military software, such as boots, canned food, and uniforms, and the repair of military equipment shipped back from battlefields in Southeast Asia...

...Their strategy for dealing with the opposition—short of civil insurrection —is to take away the emotional force engendered by a number of key issues, especially those involving American military bases and the return of Okinawa to Japanese rule...

...The most fundamental development in these areas has been the increase in facilities for military production...

...officials moved to restore wartime Japanese leaders to power...

...As with everything else in Japan's leadership, most of the senior officer corps consists of rejuvenated holdovers from World War II...

...Since Japanese business openly establishes policy for government, FEO's stand was in fact the forerunner of the official policy...

...Even if the anti-treaty movement is able to mobilize many more millions for demonstrations, and survives the government's repression, the opposition faces a real quandary, short of revolution...

...It was reasoned that if Communism were to be stopped, Japan might have to become the workshop and arsenal for the Free World in this area...

...Here, the focus will be on maintaining the existing 200,000 men, and supporting about 40,000 reserve officers as a cadre force...

...By 1947, the spread of Communist-led revolutionary movements throughout Asia pushed the United States to seek Japan as an ally...

...This situation is further complicated by Japan's lack of raw materials, forcing importation of steel, coal, petroleum, wood, chemicals, and agricultural goods...

...His hope was to use the agreement to weaken the opposition and curtail their potential support for the scheduled 1970 protests directed at terminating the security treaty...

...Almost before the occupation reforms had time to work, U.S...

...The predominant ideology of Japan's rulers stresses subservience to the state by the masses, guaranteed by a rigid social structure based on obligation and responsibility...

...As reported by the August 1, 1969, Mainichi Daily News, he emphasized: "Japan should maintain the security setup laid out by the Japan-U.S...

...Under American guidance Japan became a secure base area for military operations and a willing surrogate for insuring capitalist development in Asia, yet at all times the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations kept this expansion within the bounds of U.S...

...Japan has the world's third largest Gross National Product, yet it is only twentieth in per capita income—a situation that breeds disenchantment and anger...

...This shift has been caused by Japanese becoming disenchanted with the policies and tactics of the traditional parties, especially with their lack of militancy...

...and Japanese interests...

...In July, 1969, Japanese industrialists and political leaders met at the Japan Productivity Center in Tokyo to discuss rearmament...

...Since early 1969, the 185,000 men in the national police force have been armed and trained in the use of anti-riot weapons, including tear gas, water cannon, concussion grenades, and automatic rifles...

...dominance in China virtually pushed the hard pressed Japanese into imperialist adventures...

...A simple truth recognized by the opposition forces is that they face a difficult and frustrating fight...

...Moreover, both are ardent believers that government should be the handmaiden of business...

...After protests and riots involving both students and local residents, the Sato government moved to defuse the situation...

...In the December 18, 1969, New York Times, Philip Shabecoff reported the fears of many Asian leaders, "in countries that had felt the weight of Japanese military might during World War II," where "any hint of possible military build-up by Japan is viewed as cause for concern...

...During the post-World War II occupation Kishi was imprisoned as a war criminal, but later released, and then "depurged...

...But opposition to the treaty is not just confined to its stipulated alliance system welding Japan to our Asian policies and allowing the use of national territory for American military bases...

...But with the election of Richard Nixon to the Presidency, the Japanese saw their opportunity to remove some of these barriers and equalize the relationship that had previously made Japan the United States' junior partner...

...In terms of potential effectiveness and political muscle the "new left" has replaced the political parties as the core of the protest movement, a fairly substantial reversal considering it was the JSP and Sohyo which organized and led the 1960 anti-treaty fight...

...Millions of young citizens refused to cast their ballots, claiming it was an "old people's election...

...Little was established in the election except reinforcement of the move away from the Socialist Party, with most of its losses going to the Communist Party, and Komeito (Clean Government Party), which is the political arm of the Buddhist Soka Gakki movement...

...Brandishing President Nixon's pledge, Sato returned home, dissolved the Diet, and arranged for national elections to be held on December 27, 1969...

...As a workers' group, AWYC is seeking to promote strikes, but often its members prefer to join with Zengakuren in street actions...

...Here there is some possibility for success, since there has been a noticeable rise in the number of workers who have become militant...

...In the most immediate terms, any military buildup will not be directed toward external security, except for possible forays into modest displays of "gunboat diplomacy...

...Still left at issue is whether all of Okinawa will be returned in 1972...

...The government's network of secret police and spies has also been increased . . ." Plans released by the Japanese Defense Agency call for a buildup in naval and air strength...

...The election could not in any way be construed as an LDP mandate, with nearly half the votes going to the opposition and the young rejecting the political system...

...Japan's aggressive foreign and military policies in the 1930s can be explained, at least in major part, in the context of this economic dilemma...

...Ambassador to Japan, Edwin Reischauer observed that these demonstrations were "a sign of a huge current of discontent within Japanese society—a frustration with present trends and a strong alienation from the existing order...

...Most came from the Japanese tipper class and had joint relationships with the bureaucracy and business, and only a few in the postwar era have changed their political views...

...military-industrial complex," an anathema to the people of a nation apprehensive about the institutions of war...

...no mention is made of control over the island's military bases...

...counterparts such as Westinghouse, General Electric, General Precision, Litton Industries, and most of the other top companies in our own "military-industrial complex" to secure the plans and technology for producing military hardware...

...Since the 1920s the Japanese economy has been based on the production of large quantities of inexpensive goods destined for export to other nations...

...The largest of these parties is the Japanese Socialist Party (JSP), drawing its strength from Sohyo (the General Council of Labor), with the Japanese Communist Party (JCP) trailing behind...

...The volume of production was so great and the standard of living in Japan so low that the sale of these goods could never be absorbed by the domestic market...

...The Japanese government is prepared to engage in massive, systematic repression of its own citizenry...

...These companies have worked out licensing arrangements with their U.S...

...The LDP received fifty-nine per cent of the Diet seats with forty-eight per cent of the total vote...

...Nor will the inclusion of the issue of the reversion of Okinawa to Japanese control fully explain the intensity of manifested emotion...

...Sato rose to power under the tutelage of his stepbrother, Kishi Nobuske, who was Prime Minister from 1957 to 1960...

...For their services the Japanese were allowed a free hand in increasing their trade...