イギリス英会話ブログ

Prime Minister Abe has made it clear he intends to push through with his plans for constitutional reform. While there has been some coverage in the media, recently it is the pension scandal or further revelations of corruption in the Cabinet that have dominated the news.

Abe has said he wants to lead Japan out of the Post-War regime into a new era, but I wonder if he isn’t really leading Japan backwards into the past. Of course, it is still too early to judge his true intentions because he doesn’t explain them clearly. Why doesn’t he make better use of the media to explain what he wants to achieve?

There is the opinion that Japan needs to break out of the ’self-flaggellatory cycle’ it has been in since the war. I guess this is referring to the repeated apologies that the government has had to make about Japan’s conduct during the war. Abe has not made his plans and thoughts clear to the people; confronted by criticism from foreign countries or people, the Japanese tend not to argue their side very strongly. I don’t think this means though that the Japanese eschew war because they are still cowering from their experiences in WWII. I have always hoped that they eschew war because they have principles and moral fortitude - they have learned some lessons from their experience in the 20th century - at least that is how I prefer to interpret the situation. Mr.Abe seems intent on proving me wrong!

Japan should be proud of her achievements since the end of the war - creating the world’s second biggest economy while building a society that takes a pacifist position in the world. Inadvertently, Japan has stumbled onto the advantages of soft power which America has still not fully recognized. Japan’s reputation is growing better by the year. And yet, Mr.Abe wants to have Japan join in the same old military games that have been played so many times before. Does he think Japan will not be able to influence the world in its own interests without engaging in military action with her allies and sending her children to die in foreign conflicts?

This is not the time to just ‘leave the politics up to the professionals’, because there is little evidence that they can be trusted. The media should do more to raise people’s awareness but the greatest responsibility lies with Mr.Abe, who needs to explain his intentions clearly and win support for them honestly. This will strengthen the democratic system in Japan and, for once, pass some power to the people that the Constitution ultimately protects.

I can understand the emotion behind the issue of Japan possessing a Constitution written by an occupying power at the end of WWII, but question that it should therefore be re-written in a more ‘patriotic’ way. In particular, I feel that Article 9 has been a blessing in disguise for Japan and would humbly suggest that the current drive to revise it (though exactly how it would be revised is a matter for speculation) is tragically misguided.