Japan

2009
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DECEMBER 2009

• Japanese confirm that 4,727 Koreans applied for funds
  Committee will ask for verification of 120,000 more potential victims December 31, 2009 TOKYO - The Japanese government has confirmed that 4,727 conscripted Korean laborers have subscribed for pensions. This information comes after news broke last week that the Japanese government sent 99 yen ($1.07 or 1,256 won) in welfare pension refunds to seven Korean women who were forced into compulsory labor in Japan for 11 months during World War II. [Japanese colonialism]
• Still the same Japan
  The new teacher's manual released by the Japanese government last week shows that Japan has changed little, despite the change of government to the more progressive Democratic Party. On Christmas Day, Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan summoned Japanese ambassador Toshinori Shigeie and expressed "worries and regrets in a grave manner over Japan's move to reinforce its school education on the territorial matter." The teaching handbook calls on high school teachers to teach students that Japan is locked in a territorial dispute with Korea. The manual, which will be used for the next 10 years, says that teachers "need to deepen the understanding (of students) on territorial issue by providing accurate information based on the Japanese government's proper claim and education at junior high school."
• Cross-strait ECFA spurs Japan’s FTA strategy
  •Publication Date:12/29/2009 •Source: China Times Japan’s “Nihon Keizai Shimbun” called on the Japanese government Dec. 28 to assess the effects of a cross-strait economic cooperation framework agreement on Tokyo’s external economic relations. Noting that a cross-strait ECFA is expected to be signed in the first half of 2010, an editorial in the leading economic and financial publication tackled the issue of why Japan should keep an eye on the trade pact. [FTA] [Straits]
• Japanese Bureaucrats Hide Decision to Move All US Marines out of Okinawa to Guam
  [Japanese original text at Tanaka News] Tanaka Sakai Translation by William Steele Introduction by Gavan McCormack The Japanese government announced on 15 December 2009 that it was postponing indefinitely any decision on the contentious issue of a ”Replacement Facility” for the Futenma Marine base in Okinawa. The decision to make no decision was low-key and at first glance may seem inconsequential. Its symbolic importance, however, is huge, signalling a possible changing of the tide of history in East Asia, above all in the US-Japan relationship. It meant that the Hatoyama government had withstood the most sustained barrage of US pressure, intimidation, insult, ultimatum, and threat, and decided, at least for the present, to say: “No.” [US Japan alliance]
• The New Renegade Ally?
  Victor Cha Victor Cha Presidential summits are carefully orchestrated events. Every word, every gesture is choreographed to convey certain messages. Negatives are downplayed, positives are accentuated, and at worst big differences are papered over as "agreements to disagree." U.S. President Barack Obama's recent visit to Tokyo confirms that the U.S.-Japan alliance is clearly entering a new and perhaps troubling era. The problem is not Obama. He said the appropriate things and made the appropriate gestures showing respect and appreciation for Tokyo. But dealing with the new Yukio Hatoyama government, which has broken the half-century lock on political power by the conservatives in Japan, will be far from easy. [Hatoyama] [US Japan alliance]
• Is Japan Headed for a Fiscal Doomsday?
  R. Taggart Murphy Many people in the financial world – not all of them kooks – have managed to convince themselves that Japan is hurtling towards some kind of fiscal doomsday. And that no matter what the Hatoyama government does or doesn't do, it's already too late. That Japan will be defaulting on its pension obligations. Or defaulting on its debt. Or will find itself unable to halt a string of bank failures that will bring the financial system to its knees. Or some combination thereof. [Finance]
• The Nomonhan Incident and the Politics of Friendship on the Russia-Mongolia-China Border
  [1] Uradyn E. Bulag The summer of 2009 in Ulaanbaatar was unusually bustling for an otherwise sleepy city at a time when almost half of its one million strong population were out in summer camps drinking koumiss (Mo. airag) in the vast countryside. The whole nation was determined to enjoy the precious tranquillity after a peaceful presidential election, avoiding a repeat of last year’s violence in the wake of parliamentary elections. Amongst the few momentous events was the high-profile state-visit on August 25–26 by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
  Whatever the name, there is an emerging consensus that it was the first major defeat for Japan in World War II, one which forced a change in its military direction leading ultimately to the attack at Pearl Harbor and the Asia-Pacific War.
  The purpose of this essay is to bring to the fore the role of a long neglected party to the Incident, namely the Inner Mongols, who fought on the Japanese side.
  Adding to the discontent of the Inner Mongol soldiers was Japanese abuse. Japanese officers physically punished Mongol soldiers for the slightest offence. Having lost their fighting morale, the Inner Mongol soldiers sought to find a way out of the battle: one way was to get wounded or killed – this would result in permanent departure from the battlefield (sic) [Japanese colonialism]
• Hatoyama and the US alliance
  November 27th, 2009 Guest Author: Leszek Buszynski, International University Japan Yukio Hatoyama’s Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) was elected to office by a landslide in the 30 August elections. Japanese voters rejected the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) which had fielded ineffective leaders since Junichiro Koizumi resigned in 2006, the last being the hapless Taro Aso. The new government declared its intention to conduct an autonomous foreign policy and has called for a ‘close and equal alliance’ with the US, a promise repeated in Hatoyama’s Diet speech of 29 October.
  Four factors have influenced Hatoyama which reveal that the changes are internally rather than externally driven. The first is his grandfather Ichiro Hatoyama who was Prime Minister from December 1954 to December 1956 and who searched for greater balance in Japanese foreign policy. To this end he attempted to normalize relations with the Soviet Union and signed the October 1956 agreement with Moscow according to which two islands would be returned to Japan from the disputed Northern Islands. This agreement was scotched by the Eisenhower administration which feared a Japanese accommodation of the Soviet Union. It threatened not to return Okinawa to Japan if the Japanese government followed through on this agreement. [US Japan alliance] [Realignment] [Hatoyama] [Japanese remilitarisation] {declne]

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NOVEMBER 2009

• Japanese Crime of Obstructing Korean Economic Development
  Pyongyang, November 13 (KCNA) -- The Japanese imperialists committed unheard-of crimes by blocking the economic development of Korea and bankrupting its national economy during their colonial rule. To begin with, they promulgated the "Company Act" in December 1910 in an attempt to prevent the advance of Korean national capital into all sectors of the economy. The act regulated that every company could be organized only under the permission of the government-general in Korea. By the act, they brought the Japanese monopolistic capital into Korea in an extensive way while blocking the investment of Korean national capital totally. [Japanese colonialism]
• 1965 Korea-Japan Accord Goes to Constitutional Court
  By Bae Ji-sook Staff Reporter An accord between the Korean and the Japanese governments nullifying claims by Koreans who were exploited under the Japanese colonial rule (1910-1945) will be brought before the Constitutional Court. Lawyers for Lee Yun-jae, whose father died while working for a Japanese company during the colonial regime, filed a petition to the Constitutional Court Friday claiming the pactsigned in 1965 is an infringement on an individual's property rights. He said the agreement has barred numerous descendants of the colonial victims from claiming legitimate compensation from both administrations. In 1965, the Japanese government paid $500 million, including $200 million in economic aid, compensation for its occupation. The Korean counterpart in return freed the Japanese administration from further financial liabilities for its exploitation during the colonization. The money was used to set public industrial infrastructure without consulting or distributing it to the victims of the regime. [Japanese colonialism]
• Nuclear Noh Drama: Tokyo, Washington and the Missing Nuclear Agreements
  Yuki Tanaka and Robert Wampler Introduction to “Nuclear Noh Drama”, documents and analysis by The National Security Archive Yuki Tanaka At first glance, the Liberal Democratic Party’s decades-long denial of clear evidence revealed by the U.S. government that it had secret agreements allowing the introduction and stationing of US nuclear weapons in Japan appears absurd. This was the reality, however, for the nation that long proclaimed the “Three Non-Nuclear Principles,” barring the production, possession or importation of nuclear weapons, as a bedrock of national policy. With the fall of the LDP looming in the September 2009 election, several former top officials of Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who were well informed of these secret deals, came forward to disclose the deal. Their motive was not protection of Japan’s “Three Non-Nuclear Principles.” To the contrary, their view is that, as the “Three Non-Nuclear Principle” did not effectively prevent the entry of nuclear weapons into Japan, they should be scrapped.
• Letting go of red-baiting conservativism
  Jung Tae-hern, Professor of Korean History, Korea University
  The Institute for Research in Collaboration Activities (IRCA) recently published its “Encyclopedia of Pro-Japanese Figures,” a graphic account of the exploits of 4,389 Japanese collaborators. For whatever reason, people who fancy themselves conservatives and certain newspapers have reacted with rage. Generally, the reasons given for the angry outcry are that “there was no choice during colonial rule” or “so-and-so was not a collaborator” in spite of the facts, and the logic behind criticizing the encyclopedia is the same red-baiting we have become accustomed to seeing. It is also a continuation of the efforts behind producing an “alternative textbook” issued by New Right groups that affirms Japanese colonial rule and disparages the nationalist movement, while claiming to espouse a new conservative right-wing historical understanding. Sadly, the self-styled conservatives of South Korean society, for whom red-baiting is all there is, lack even the most basic concept of conservatism. [Japanese colonialism]
• What the Japan-U.S. Rift Means for Northeast Asia
  Tension between Washington and Tokyo is growing ahead of U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Japan this Saturday and Sunday. The reason is Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's repeated comments since his inauguration in September that Japan has relied too much on the U.S. and will seek a more equal relationship. Hatoyama told lawmakers on Oct. 29 a "comprehensive review" is needed in U.S.-Japan relations. [US Korean alliance]
• What Hatoyama Has in Common with Roh Moo-hyun
  The steps the new Japanese government of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has been taking are reminiscent of the early days of former President Roh Moo-hyun's administration, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said Sunday. The newspaper pointed out that the two administrations resemble each other most in foreign policy, and particularly in relations with the U.S. The Hatoyama administration has criticized ousted Liberal Democratic governments for being at Washington's beck and call and has been calling for a more equal relationship. That, the paper said, is strikingly similar to the Roh administration's pledge not to be shy about telling Washington what it thinks. Also, Hatoyama's vision of an East Asian Community centered on South Korea, China and Japan is reminiscent of Roh's vision of Korea as a "balancer" for peace in Northeast Asia.
• IRCA publishes the Encyclopedia of Pro-Japanese Figures
  Despite protests the encyclopedia includes controversial entries including former President Park Chung-hee
  The “Encyclopedia of Pro-Japanese Figures” with entries that include the pro-Japanese activities of 20 individuals that have been long-recognized for their contributions to the independence movement, including Dong-A Ilbo founder and former Vice President Kim Seong-su, first Interior Minister Yun Chi-yeong and former Chief Editor of the Hwang Seong Newspaper Jang Ji-yeon was published Sunday. The encyclopedia, which records the pro-Japanese activities of some 4,389 individuals during the colonial era, finally bore fruit after work began eight years ago in Dec. 2001. Yim Hun-yeong, director of the Institute for Research in Collaboration Activities (IRCA), announced the publication at a press conference held at the grave site of former independence activist Kim Gu, 60 years after the conclusion of the Special Investigative Committee on Anti-national Activities. Yim said the goal of the project was to accurately record shameful acts of collaboration and through bravely facing them, create a path to the future. [Japanese colonialism]
• History of collaboration needs encyclopedia treatment
  [Editorial] The Institute for Research in Collaboration Activities’ (IRCA) “Encyclopedia of Pro-Japanese Figures” that records the pro-Japanese activities of 4,389 individuals during the colonial era has been published on Sunday. It has been 60 years since the Special Investigative Committee of Anti-national Activities, which was created by the Constitutional Assembly in 1948, ended in 1949 with no results. Accordingly, this encyclopedia project is significant in that it allows us to examine the twisted structure of our modern society in which pro-Japanese figures have entered the social mainstream. It goes without saying that the encyclopedia’s compilation process underwent ups and downs. The project, which began in Dec. 2001, met strong resistance from vested individuals and groups. Every time a provisional list of names was released, lawsuits and organized movements to terminate the project followed. In late 2003, the National Assembly completely cut funding for the project, but about 30,000 citizens spontaneously raised 750 million Won within a mere 10 days. Support from the public and not the politicians or the government, who have failed to properly fulfill their duties, made the project possible. The purpose of the encyclopedia is to record shameful acts of collaboration and in bravely facing them, create a path to the future. [Japanese colonialism] [Sovereignty]
• Park Chung-hee Leads List of Collaborators With Japan
  By Bae Ji-sook Staff Reporter The late former President Park Chung-hee, father of Park Geun-hye, the former leader of the governing Grand National Party, is included on a list of 4,389 collaborators during Japanese colonial rule (1910-1945). The Dictionary of Collaborators also lists first Prime Minister Jang Myun, renowned dancer Choi Seung-hee and composer of the national anthem, Ahn Eak-tai. Jang Ji-yeon, an opinion leader, who was noted for his poem against Japan's absorption of Korea, is also included for acting as an active supporter late into the Japanese occupation. The list, released by the Institute for Research on Collaborationist Activists, dropped former Prime Minister Shin Hyon-hwak, who contributed greatly to the nation's industrialization, and two others after a review following requests by their families. Park, who was in power for 18 years after his 1961 coup, was blacklisted for his pledge of allegiance to Imperial Japan and its army in 1939 [Japanese colonialism]
• Court Upholds Decision to List Park as Japanese Collaborator
  By Do Je-hae Staff Reporter A Seoul court dismissed Friday an injunction filed by the son of former President Park Chung-hee (1917-1979) to remove the military dictator's name from a forthcoming report on collaborators during Japanese colonial rule (1910-1945) of Korea. ``The parts regarding the former President are based on historical and actual facts, supplied with sufficient references,’’ Judge Suh Chang-won said. ``Including Park is an academic judgment. It is hard to conclude that it oversteps the freedom of forming scholarly opinion.’’ Park Ji-man demanded the removal of his father’s name from the report that includes a list of more than 4,000 Koreans who cooperated with the Japanese. It is to be published Sunday by the Institute of Research on Collaborationist Activities. The report shows that Park once made a pledge of allegiance written in blood to the Japanese army in 1939, testifying that he once described himself specifically as ``Japanese’’ in his writings. ``I have the mindset and spirit befitting a Japanese subject and am willing to give my life,’’ he wrote in a letter to the Japanese Army, hoping to be being recruited. [Park Chung-hee] [Japanese colonialism]
• Evidence of Park Chung-hee’s military allegiance to Japan surfaces
  Controversy erupts in advance of IRCA encyclopedia’s publication that lists Park as a pro-Japanese figure » The article from the Manshu Shimbun (Manchuria Newspaper) that shows that late President Park Chung-hee submitted an oath of allegiance to Japan in his own blood with his application form to serve in the military for the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo, March 31, 1939. A newspaper article has been discovered that shows that late President Park Chung-hee, when volunteering to become a soldier in Japanese-occupied Manchukuo, wrote an oath of allegiance to Japan in his own blood. This is the first time the allegation, which had been rumored, has been confirmed with objective evidence. Prior to the full-scale release on Sunday of its encyclopedia on pro-Japanese figures during the colonial era, the Institute for Research in Collaboration Activities (IRCA) issued a surprise release Thursday with its content on Park, whom it lists as a pro-Japanese figure in the encyclopedia. In addition, it released a 1939 article from the Manshu Shimbun (Manchuria Newspaper) that shows that Park sent with his application form to become a soldier serving Manchukuo, a puppet state in Manchuria, an oath of loyalty written in blood and a supplication letter. [Park Chung-hee] [Japanese colonialism]
• Japanese Premier 'More Flexible' on N.Korea
  Normalization of ties between North Korea and Japan does not necessarily have to wait till the abduction issue is fully resolved, Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has said. Choi Sang-yong, a former South Korean ambassador to Japan, met with Hatoyama in Tokyo on Oct. 31 and sent his thoughts on the meeting to the Chosun Ilbo. He said contentious issues like the repatriation of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 80s and other matters can be tackled separately. "Our position is that it is possible to tackle one by one in the process of normalization," Choi quoted Hatoyama as saying. [Hatoyama]
• DPRK Contributes to Efforts for Protecting Human Rights
  Pyongyang, November 3 (KCNA) -- The DPRK will further consolidate and develop the Korean-style socialist system based on the Juche idea which calls for valuing man as the most precious being and sincerely fulfill its international commitment on the principle of respect for sovereignty and equality and thus make a positive contribution to the world-wide efforts for protecting and promoting human rights. A delegate of the DPRK declared this at the meeting of the Third Committee of the 64th UN General Assembly held on October 28. The DPRK government regards it as the supreme principle of state activities to protect and promote human rights and improve the people's well-being, he noted, and continued: Human rights are firmly guaranteed legally and substantially as inviolable sacred rights and everyone fully enjoys human rights and basic freedom related to his or her dignity. He called for properly settling the human rights abuses committed in the past. In recent years some countries have taken positive steps to make an apology and reparation for the human rights abuses committed by them in other countries during their colonial rules. However, Japan has so far evaded its governmental responsibility for such hideous crimes against humanity committed during its past military occupation of Korea as the massacre of more than one million Koreans, conscription of at least 8.4 million Koreans and the act of forcing more than 200,000 Korean women into sexual slavery for the Imperial Japanese Army and refused to make an apology and reparation to the victims and made no scruple of distorting the crime-woven history though a century has passed since then. Proceeding from this viewpoint, the Japanese authorities have perpetrated all sorts of discriminations and human rights abuses against Korean residents in Japan. Japan would be well advised to behave with discretion, mindful that its future depends on making a sincere apology and reparation for its past crimes. [Human rights] [Japanese colonialism]
• Kim Jong-il 'Ordered Japanese Abductions'
  North Korean leader Kim Jong-il gave direct orders for the bizarre abductions of Japanese nationals in the 1970s and 80s, a Japanese newspaper claims. The Asahi Shimbun cited a Japanese government agency study saying that Kim, who held the post of secretary of the Workers' Party at the time, had direct control over the foreign intelligence division which is believed to be responsible for the kidnappings. The daily says the Japanese government has reasons to believe that Kim, who by that time had been confirmed as his father's successor, either gave direct orders for the abductions or at least had some knowledge of the intelligence division's operations. [Abductees]
• Japanese Reactionaries' Scheme for Revival of Militarism Censured
  Pyongyang, November 1 (KCNA) -- Shortly ago, nearly 54 lawmakers of Japan flocked to the "Yasukuni shrine", stirring up militarism. Among them were former Prime Minister Aso, President of the Liberal-Democratic Party Tanigaki and Chairman of the Society of LDP Members of the House of Councilors Otsuji who is secretary of the super-partisan Association of Dietmen for Visiting "Yasukuni Shrine". In this regard, Minju Joson today says in a signed commentary: Such reckless behavior of the Japanese ultra-right conservative forces, including riffraffs of the LDP, is a very dangerous criminal action fraught with the scheme for militarism and overseas aggression. [Japanese colonialism] [Yasukuni] [Japanese remilitarisation]
• Japan Urged by U.S. in 1964 to Maintain Secret Nuclear Deal, Documents Show
  Monday, Nov. 2, 2009 The United States in 1964 urged Japan not to scrap a secret agreement allowing U.S. nuclear-armed vessels to make stops at the island nation's ports, Kyodo News reported yesterday (see GSN, Oct. 14). In September 1964, U.S. Ambassador to Japan Edwin Reischauer met with Masayoshi Ohira, a senior official in Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, to obtain assurances that the pact would remain in force, according to papers recently released by Washington. Remarks by a Japanese defense official had prompted U.S. fears that the agreement was in danger. Tokyo -- which adheres to principles that bar it from producing or possessing nuclear weapons or allowing nuclear arms deployments on its soil by other states -- apparently acceded to Washington's request. The reported deal is now under investigation by Japan's newly installed government under the Democratic Party of Japan. The review is expected to be finished this month (Kyodo News/Breitbart.com, Nov. 1). [Legality]
• Transformation of Japanese Space Policy: From the “Peaceful Use of space” to “the Basic Law on Space”
  Maeda Sawako Japanese space activity started in 1955. After fourteen years of rocket and satellite experimentation, space activity was initiated in such practical realms as weather forecasting and broadcasting. Scientific missions extending from the near-Earth region to deep space were organized by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), which was founded at Tokyo University in 1964. Other missions such as weather satellites, communication satellites, broadcasting satellites and environment monitoring satellites were managed mainly by the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA), which was established in 1969. The two organizations together with the National Aerospace Laboratory were merged to form the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in 2003. When NASDA was founded, the Diet unanimously adopted a resolution stating that Japan’s space programs were exclusively for peaceful purposes, consistent with Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution. The word “peaceful purposes” was strictly interpreted to mean that Japan could use and exploit space only for “non-military” purposes. Japan’s “non-nuclear” policy was simultaneously proclaimed. The Diet resolution of 1969 established “the principle of peaceful use of space” as the bedrock of Japan’s space policy. As discussed below, military space activity would infiltrate the space program despite the principle. Indeed, Japan would become the most active military partner of the U.S. with respect to so-called "missile defense" systems. Even the “non-nuclear” policy has been discarded in practice through official tolerance of entry into Japan of U.S. nuclear submarines and nuclear missiles. After two decades of inconsistency between “the Principle of peaceful use of space” and the reality of militarized space activity, the new Japanese space law enacted in 2008 lifted the ban on the use of space technology for military purposes. [Satellites] [Japanese remilitarisation]

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OCTOBER 2009

• The Forgotten Japanese in North Korea: Beyond the Politics of Abduction
  Tessa Morris-Suzuki The Girl in the Ice-Cube For the past few years, international travelers leaving Japan’s major airports have been confronted with a written instruction as they queue in front of the passport control booths. Displayed only in Japanese, and thus aimed specifically at a domestic audience, the instruction informs Japanese people that they should “voluntarily refrain” [jishuku suru] from visiting North Korea [the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, DPRK]. This is part of the package of sanctions which was imposed on North Korea by the Japanese government in 2006, following the DPRK’s nuclear test, and which have remained in place ever since. [Abductees] [Japanese colonialism]
• The Widening U.S.-Japan Security Divide
  Washington and Tokyo have to focus on protecting their citizens from harm today. By CAROLYN LEDDY Secretary of Defense Robert Gates delivered a tough message to the new government in Tokyo this week: The U.S.-Japan security alliance is not up for renegotiation. The question now is whether Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama will get the message before President Barack Obama lands in Japan next month. The most pressing issue is the 2006 agreement to close the U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Base in downtown Okinawa and relocate it to a nearby coastal area. The base has been a source of local tension for many years. In addition, approximately 8,000 troops are scheduled to be transferred to Guam, lowering the overall U.S. military presence in Japan to around 40,000 troops. Mr. Gates said Tuesday that he's willing to modify Futenma's landing strip, but not renegotiate a deal that was 15 years in the making. Tokyo responded that domestic political circumstances have "changed." Mr. Hatoyama also refuses to rule out the possibility of relocating the base outside of Japan altogether. There's more: The Democratic Party of Japan-led government has already stated that it will not renew the Indian Ocean refueling mission that supports U.S.-led operations in Afghanistan. Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said Sunday he wants to discuss a nuclear no-first-use policy. And Mr. Hatoyama continues to toy with the idea of establishing an East Asian community as a rival to Western economic and security institutions. Tokyo's position threatens to undermine the cornerstone of East Asian security: the U.S.-Japan alliance. The majority of U.S. troops stationed in Japan are located in Okinawa. They protect both Japan and neighboring U.S. allies such as South Korea and Taiwan and provide the only permanently forward-deployed, brigade-sized Marine Corps unit that can conduct humanitarian assistance and combat operations. The DPJ's ideas just don't make sense. [Solipsism] [US Japan Alliance] [China confrontation]
• Japan Probes 1960s Nuclear Agreements With U.S.
  Tokyo Leadership, Seeking Break With Past, Holds Fact-Finding Mission Into Once-Secret Pacts; Gates Warns of Damage to Ties
  By YUKA HAYASHI TOKYO -- U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates cautioned Japan this week against letting a fact-finding mission into decades-old secret nuclear-weapons agreements affect relations between the two countries, according to an official familiar with the matter. In a meeting with Japanese Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa on Wednesday, Mr. Gates said Japan also should avoid letting the probe hurt the U.S.'s antinuclear-proliferation efforts (sic), the official said. Mr. Kitazawa said the government would handle confidential information sensitively, said the official. [Chutzpah] [US Japan alliance] [Nuclear weapons] [Legality] [Spin]
• Gov't eyes N. Korean cargo inspection bill without SDF involvement
  TOKYO, Oct. 22 KYODO The government envisions submitting a bill to parliament to enable Japan to inspect ships suspected of carrying banned cargo to and from North Korea, most likely without the involvement of the Self-Defense Forces, government sources said Thursday. [PSI] [Hatoyama]
• Transforming Japan-US Alliance
  By Doug Bandow American influence is facing another challenge in East Asia. The latest loss of U.S. power may occur in Japan. Last month, the Democratic Party of Japan ousted the Liberal Democratic Party, which had held power for most of the last 54 years. Exactly how policy will change is uncertain: The DPJ is a diverse and fractious coalition. But Washington is nervous. U.S. policymakers have grown used to Tokyo playing the role of pliant ally, backing American priorities and hosting American bases.
  The Marine Expeditionary Force stationed on Okinawa is primarily intended to back up America's commitment to South Korea. Yet, the South has some 40 times the GDP of North Korea. Seoul should take over responsibility for its own defense. [US Japan alliance] [Hatoyama] [Military balance]
• High-Ranking NK Defector Rejects Japan Trip
  Hwang Jang-yop, a former high-ranking North Korean official who defected to South Korea in 1997, has turned down Japan's invitation to visit Tokyo next week for a speech on North Korea at Japan's parliament, Yonhap News Agency reported, quoting an informed diplomatic source. Hiroshi Nakai, the Japanese minister in charge of abduction issues, flew into Seoul Thursday night for a meeting with Hwang, who is under the protection of South Korea's intelligence unit. But Hwang refused to meet the Japanese official, according to the source who requested anonymity. "Hwang appears to think that it is still early to make a trip to Japan, concerned about the possibility that it will be used for political purposes," the source was quoted as saying.
  Japan says at least 16 Japanese citizens were kidnapped by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s. In 2002, the North admitted to having kidnapped 13 Japanese people and allowed five of them to return home. It said the other eight had already died. [Abductees] [Defectors]
• U.S. pressures Japan on military package
  Washington concerned as new leaders in Tokyo look to redefine alliance
  By John Pomfret and Blaine Harden Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, October 22, 2009 Worried about a new direction in Japan's foreign policy, the Obama administration warned the Tokyo government Wednesday of serious consequences if it reneges on a military realignment plan formulated to deal with a rising China. The comments from Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates underscored increasing concern among U.S. officials as Japan moves to redefine its alliance with the United States and its place in Asia. In August, the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) won an overwhelming victory in elections, ending more than 50 years of one-party rule. [China confrontation] [US Japan alliance] [Hatayama] [Threat]
• Hyundai supplanting Toyota in U.S.
  David Beidny's choice between a Japanese and Korean car was easy: Hyundai Motor Co. gave him $3,500 in cash to make the purchase, a deal that money-losing Toyota Motor Corp. could ill afford to offer. "I stopped by Toyota and I even sat in a Camry, but they were asking $4,500 more than the Hyundai I bought," said the 46-year-old computer graphics designer from Rockland County, New York, who purchased an Elantra. "Hyundai was cutting the best deal." Japan, which barely emerged from recession in the second quarter, may see its expansion cut short as the exporters it depends on for growth cede business to Korean rivals. Toyota is contending with a yen that has risen against all 16 major currencies in the past two years, including the dollar, euro and Korean won, eroding profit and leaving little room for price cuts. The won's 22 percent slide versus the dollar let Hyundai give discounts and almost double its U.S. market share. [IM]
• More Japanese Feel Need to Say Sorry to 'Comfort Women'
  Japanese who believe that Tokyo should apologize for drafting thousands of Asian woman as sex slaves for the Imperial Army in World War II outnumber those who think otherwise for the first time, a straw poll suggests. [Japanese colonialism] [War crimes]
• Seoul Must Learn from Tokyo's Resolve Over Abductions
  Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama is personally heading a government committee that seeks to bring back Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and '80s. The entire Japanese cabinet originally planned to serve on the committee, but Hatoyama decided to head it himself after the plan was criticized for creating too much bureaucracy. Only three cabinet members will join Hatoyama. By heading it, he demonstrates his government's will to resolve the abduction issue, while the selection of only those cabinet ministers directly involved in the issue stresses the urgency of the problem. Japan's leadership has gone from the Liberal Democratic Party to the Democratic Party, but it appears that the government's will to tackle the issue has only grown stronger. [Abductees] [Hatoyama] [Misinterpretation]
• Govt won't submit bill on inspecting DPRK cargo
  The Yomiuri Shimbun The government has decided against submitting a bill to allow inspections of cargo on flights and vessels traveling to and from North Korea to the upcoming extraordinary Diet session, scheduled to be convened on Oct. 23. The government informed the ruling coalition of the decision Wednesday. The bill was initially prepared by the Cabinet of former Prime Minister Taro Aso to carry out the U.N. Security Council's resolution against North Korea that was adopted after the country's nuclear test in May. But the bill was scrapped because the then opposition Democratic Party of Japan refused to discuss it in the Diet. The now ruling DPJ had intended to pass a bill almost identical to the one prepared by the Aso Cabinet. However, the Social Democratic Party, one of the DPJ's coalition partners, had expressed a cautious stance toward the newer legislation. [Hatoyama]
• Nuclear Noh Drama
  Tokyo, Washington and the Case of the Missing Nuclear Agreements President Richard M. Nixon and Japanese Prime Minister Eisaku Sato meeting at the Western White House in San Clemente, California in January 1972. Nixon and Sato worked out the final details of the Okinawa reversion agreement during these meetings. Posted - October 13, 2009 Edited by Dr. Robert A. Wampler wampler@gwu.edu Washington, D.C., October 13, 2009 - The election of the new Democratic Party government in Japan led by Yukio Hatoyama raises a significant challenge for the Obama administration: the status of secret agreements on nuclear weapons that Tokyo and Washington negotiated in 1960 and 1969. [US Japan alliance] [Nuclear weapons]
• Japan’s Historic 2009 Elections: Implications for U.S. Interests
  Weston S. Konishi Analyst in Asian Affairs September 8, 2009 Congressional Research Service [US-Japan alliance]
• S.Korea-Japan summit focuses on N.Korea nuclear issue and East Asian community
  S.Korea-Japan historical issues are put on hold as President Lee and Japanese Prime Minister Hatoyama use meeting to prepare for tri-nation summit in Beijing  
      “For the core part of the bilateral talks, we dedicated a lot of time to the East Asian community issue and the North Korea issue.” These were the remarks of Japanese Prime Minister Hatoyama Yukio at a joint press conference with President Lee Myung-bak in front of the Cheong Wa Dae (the presidential office in South Korea or Blue House) on Friday following a thirty-minute South Korea-Japan summit. Observers suggest this statement means that little time was given to discussing plans for resolving conflicts surrounding the rocky history between the two countries, one of the main issues in South Korea-Japan relations. Hatoyama’s remarks demonstrate in a nutshell the gist of what the two countries’ leaders hoped to get out of these talks. President Lee focused on gaining Hatoyama’s consent for the “Grand Bargain” he proposed as a solution to the North Korea nuclear issue, while Hatoyama focused on gaining President Lee’s consent for his conception of an East Asian community.  
• CIA Papers Reveal Japan Coup Plot
  Associated Press | March 01, 2007 TOKYO - Declassified documents reveal that Japanese ultranationalists with ties to U.S. military intelligence plotted to overthrow the Japanese government and assassinate the prime minister in 1952. The scheme - which was abandoned - was concocted by militarists and suspected war criminals who had worked for U.S. occupation authorities after World War II, according to CIA records reviewed by The Associated Press. The plotters wanted a right-wing government that would rearm Japan. The CIA files, declassified in 2005 and publicized by the U.S. National Archives in January, detail a plot to oust the pro-U.S. prime minister, Shigeru Yoshida, and install a more hawkish government led by Ichiro Hatoyama.
• Hatoyama's Fantasy Island
  Tim Kelly, 08.30.09, 06:00 PM EDT Japan's leader-in-waiting has a delusional vision for his country and its relationship with the rest of Asia. Yukio Hatoyama dreams of an Asian union, a utopia free of rapacious American capitalism, a region bound together by fraternity and a common currency. Were Hatoyama a soapbox orator his fantasizing could be dismissed as twaddle, but he isn't. He's about to become the next prime minister of the world's No. 2 economy, following his party's victory Sunday in a general election.
• Victims pin hopes on Hatoyama
  Six frail-looking, diminutive women in their 80s sit quietly in a row, surrounded by dozens of nuns and volunteers urging a government to face up to past wrong. Since 1992, the elderly victims of Japan's wartime atrocities have taken part in the weekly demonstrations every Wednesday at noon, rain or snow, outside the Japanese Embassy in Seoul. Last week, at the 885th gathering, the grandmothers hobbled across the road hand in hand to deliver a letter to the security booth of the embassy, as no one from the embassy would come out and take it. The two-page letter was addressed to Japan's new Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, who is scheduled to visit Seoul this Friday for a summit with President Lee Myung-bak. The former "comfort women," who were forced to provide sex to the Japanese army during World War II, want the Japanese government to apologize through a Diet resolution, legally compensate them and include details of their suffering in history textbooks.
  Having suffered a lifetime of shame, sickness, poverty and neglect, the women saw a silver lining in the recent change of government in Japan. During his meeting with Lee in New York last month, Hatoyama said he has "the courage to face up to history" and offered to build new Japan-Korea relations based on a shared perception of history. [Japanese colonialism] [Comfort women] [Hatoyama]
• Japan Foils N.Korean Nuclear Import Plot
  A month before conducting an underground nuclear test in May, North Korea attempted to import drugs from Japan used to monitor the effects of radiation on humans, but the attempt was foiled, the Yomiuri Shimbun says. The revelation follows testimony from a Japanese businessman who was arrested in May for exporting a large tank lorry that could be converted into a missile launch pad to North Korea. The businessman received the North Korean request for the drugs via e-mail on Apr. 21. That alerted Japanese authorities, who had been monitoring North Korean transmissions. The drug tests for the presence of radioactive elements in the blood stream.[Sanctions]
• E. Asian Nations Seek Common History Textbook
  By Na Jeong-ju Staff Reporter Cheong Wa Dae welcomed Thursday the Japanese foreign minister's proposal for South Korea, China and Japan to write a common history textbook, but said it won't be easy and could take a long time. ``It is a good idea to make a textbook based on a common recognition of the past histories of the three East Asian countries,'' a presidential representative said. ``However, it will be a long-term and painstaking project.'' The reaction came one day after Katsuya Okada said it was ``ideal'' for the three nations to come together for the project. ``Ideally in the future, we need to have a common history textbook,'' Okada was quoted as saying by the Sankei Shimbun during a lecture at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan. ``As a first step toward the publication of the textbook, the three countries are to implement a joint study of history.'' [Japanese colonialism]
• DPRK sought N-test gear in Japan
  The Yomiuri Shimbun A trading firm president who was convicted of violating the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Law for attempting to export large tanker trucks and other items to North Korea received an e-mail from overseas asking him to send to North Korea in late April reagents used to examine effects of radiation on the human body, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned. According to sources at the Hyogo prefectural police and other police sources, the sender of the e-mail in question is believed to be a trader in North Korea. The focus of attention by the police has been that the e-mail was sent about one month before North Korea conducted its nuclear test in May. As the country had procured precision equipment necessary for nuclear development from Japan in the past, the police are trying to identify the source of the e-mail believing that the sender hoped to obtain the reagents to check health damage resulting from a nuclear test. The 50-year-old president of a trading firm based in Maizuru, Kyoto Prefecture, was arrested on May 19 on suspicion of attempting to export without permission large tanker trucks that can be converted into launch pads for ballistic missiles (sic), in violation of the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Law. [Sanctions]
• A New Path for Japan
  By Yukio Hatoyama
  Published: August 26, 2009 TOKYO — In the post-Cold War period, Japan has been continually buffeted by the winds of market fundamentalism in a U.S.-led movement that is more usually called globalization. In the fundamentalist pursuit of capitalism people are treated not as an end but as a means. Consequently, human dignity is lost. How can we put an end to unrestrained market fundamentalism and financial capitalism, that are void of morals or moderation, in order to protect the finances and livelihoods of our citizens? That is the issue we are now facing. [Reserve] [Realignment] [US Japan alliance]

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SEPTEMBER 2009

• Japan eyes North Korea’s charm offensive
  September 25th, 2009 Author: Amy King, Oxford University On August 4, the North Korean regime released two detained American journalists after former US President Bill Clinton’s visit to Pyongyang. Clinton’s surprise visit to North Korea was, at best, bittersweet for Japan. The US has consistently exhorted Japan to use the six-party framework to resolve its abduction issue, so Clinton’s ‘humanitarian’ visit to North Korea appeared hypocritical to Japan. Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary, Kawamura Takeo, welcomed the release of the two US journalists and thanked Clinton for pressing North Korea on the Japanese abduction issue. However, the Japanese press was not nearly so magnanimous and was quick to link the Clinton visit to Japan’s ineffectual handling of the North Korean abduction issue. The Japan Times ran with the headline ‘Clinton’s success highlights Japan’s abductees failure’, while Japan Today questioned why Japan did not have its own Clinton to deal with North Korea.
  As an administration that has advocated talking with hostile states such as Iran and North Korea, it has and will continue to be difficult for the Obama administration to ignore North Korea’s conciliatory behaviour. Despite the State Department’s exhortations that the August developments have changed nothing on the North Korean issue, the DPJ is likely to be pushed into an uncomfortable position on North Korea. Hatoyama will have to work hard to ensure that Japan’s voice is heard. [Sidelining] [Overtures]
• Occupation Authorities, the Hatoyama Purge and the Making of Japan’s Postwar Political Order
  Juha Saunavaara The purge of Hatoyama Ichiro and the elevation of Yoshida Shigeru as a substitute prime minister in May 1946 deeply impacted their respective political careers. More important, these actions taken by the Allied occupation authority set the course for postwar Japan’s conservative parties. This article examines the thinking of GHQ leaders that led to these actions. The bureaucratic rule of the so-called Yoshida-school was the long-term side effect of a policy that was meant to guide the development of Japan’s conservative political parties at the dawn of the occupation. The bloodlines of the two statesmen continue to influence contemporary Japanese politics as Hatoyama’s grandson, Yukio, replaces Yoshida Shigeru’s grandson, Aso Taro, as Japan’s prime minister. [US global strategy]
• Japan's Challenges and Dilemmas over Nuclear Disarmament
  By Masa Takubo September 24th, 2009 This article was previously published by the Acronym Institute in Disarmament Diplomacy 91: http://www.acronym.org.uk/dd/dd91/91mt.htm Masa Takubo, an independent analyst on nuclear issues and Operator of the Nuclear Information website Kakujoho, writes, “the fear-mongering claims that Japan will want nuclear weapons if the US adopts a new policy need to be examined more rigorously. Misinterpretation of Japan's intentions should not become the reason for no change. Nor should Japan be used as an excuse by those who want to keep US nuclear policies stuck in the cold war.” [Nuclear weapons] [Japanese remilitarisation]
• The Guam Treaty as a Modern “Disposal” of the Ryukyus
  Sakurai Kunitoshi Introduction by Gavan McCormack Translation by Takeda Kyousuke and Takeda Yuusuke
  Little attention internationally was paid to the agreement signed in February, 2009 between the newly commissioned Obama government in the US and the declining and soon to be defeated Aso government in Japan – the Guam Treaty. Many commentators drew the bland conclusion that by choosing Tokyo as her first destination Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was merely showing how highly the Obama government intended to regard the Japan alliance. Another view, advanced in these pages, was less benign. (See “Hillary in Japan – The Enforcer,” 22 February 2009) It was that Clinton went quickly to Tokyo fearing the Aso government might collapse in order to tie it and any successor government to the extraordinary deals that had been done between the Pentagon and Japanese governments over the preceding years. The Guam Agreement was the culmination of those deals, Okinawa the sacrificial victim. Clinton went, in other words, as “enforcer,” to lay down the law to Japan on the multi-billions of dollars that were required of it and to press the militarization of Northern Okinawa. Japan was to pay just over $6 billion to relocate 8,000 Marines from Okinawa to Guam (of which $2.8 billion was to be in cash in the current financial year), about $11 billion to build a new base for the marines in Okinawa itself, continuing general subsidies of about $2.2 billion per year (“Sympathy” budget or “Host Nation Facilities Support”) towards the costs of US bases in Japan, and payments on Missile Defense systems, estimated by the government of Japan at somewhere between $7.4 and $8.9 billion to the year 2012. As the Japanese economy reeled under the shock of its greatest crisis in 60 years, these were staggering sums. It was once said, of George W. Bush, that he was inclined to think of Japan as “just some ATM machine” for which a pin number was not needed. Under Obama, too, that relationship seemed not to change. [Continuity]
• Okada orders thorough investigation over Japan-U.S. secret pacts
  Sep 16 01:40 PM US/Eastern pacts+ (AP) - TOKYO, Sept. 17 (Kyodo)—(EDS: ADDING INFO) New Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said early Thursday that he has ordered the ministry's top bureaucrat to investigate the issue of alleged secret pacts between Japan and the United States, including one on the handling of nuclear weapons, and to issue a report around the end of November. "I think there is a high probability that the secret pacts exist, but I do not have clear evidence," Okada told reporters, noting that Vice Foreign Minister Mitoji Yabunaka has expressed his intention to comply with the order and launch the investigation around Sept. 25. Okada issued the order immediately after assuming his ministerial post Wednesday, when newly elected Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, launched his Cabinet. Among the secret pacts subject to investigation is a purported 1960 secret Japan-U.S. pact under which Japan would allow stopovers in its territory by U.S. military aircraft or vessels carrying nuclear weapons. The move could pave the way for the new DPJ-led government to issue a statement officially admitting the existence of the secret pacts, reversing the earlier government and ministry stance of denial. [US Japan alliance]
• Clinton prods Japan into realistic policy stance on security issues
  Sep 16 09:41 PM US/Eastern WASHINGTON, Sept. 16 (AP) - (Kyodo)—Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday urged Japan's new administration to adopt a down-to-earth policy stance on security issues instead of trying to implement election pledges such as halting Tokyo's antiterrorism support mission in the Indian Ocean. "It was (former New York Mayor) Mario Cuomo who famously said, 'You campaign in poetry, you govern in prose,'" she told reporters, noting the United States has already begun "intensive" talks with the new Japanese government led by Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on issues of mutual concern. The remarks came amid concern that if the Hatoyama administration pursues the security policy goals it pledged during the election campaign, it could adversely affect relations between Japan and the United States. [US Japan alliance] [Spin] [US dominance] [Japanese remilitarisation]
• [Editorial] Expectations of improving Japanese-Korean relations
  Japan’s new coalition government of the Democratic Party, Social Democratic Party and People’s New Party led by Democratic Party Chairman Hatoyama Yukio indicates that the Liberal Democratic Party’s one-party system that has dominated since 1955 is over, and an “era of the people’s administration” centered on the Democratic Party, has begun. Just as the Hatoyama administration marks a new era in Japanese political history, substantial changes by the new administration in internal policy and foreign policy are expected. Our area of greatest interest is Korea-Japan relations
• Japan's New Leader Seeks Revision of Relations With U.S.
  But Major Shift in Alliance Is Unlikely
  By Blaine Harden Washington Post Foreign Service Thursday, September 17, 2009 TOKYO, Sept. 16 -- Hours after he became prime minister Wednesday, Yukio Hatoyama said he wants to change Japan's "somewhat passive" relationship with the United States and review the large American military presence here. [US Japan alliance]
• Lee Hopes for Visit from Japanese Emperor
  President Lee Myung-bak said he believes a visit from the Emperor of Japan would be of help to bilateral relations. In an interview Tuesday with Korea's Yonhap and Japan's Kyodo news agencies, the president expressed hope that Emperor Akihito will visit Korea some time next year. Highlighting the need to pursue a future-oriented relationship, Lee also said what happened in the past should not be ignored. Korea was under Japanese colonial rule from 1910 to 1945, with unresolved issues including forced labor and sexual slavery of the Korean people souring ties to this day.
• Time to re-think the economic partnership with Japan in Asia
  Author: Peter Drysdale September 13th, 2009 The election of the Hatoyama administration is not the only reason why it’s time for Australia to re-think its economic relationship with Japan. But it is a good reason to bring new ideas to the dialogues between Canberra and Tokyo on core economic interests in the region, as well as a whole range of other things
  There has been a big structural adjustment in the Japanese economy over the last two decades. Leading Japanese corporations have moved to establish a formidable presence internationally, especially in Asia, as they rationalised production and sought an efficient international manufacturing base through taking advantage of lower cost production locations around the region and the world. In 1990 only 11.4 per cent of Japanese electronics manufacturing output was produced offshore. By 2007 that share had risen to 45.5 per cent for electronics, and 33.2 per cent of all manufacturing output was produced offshore. {IM}
• Hatoyama Government and Japan’s Defense Guidelines: Pause or End to Alliance Deepening?
  By Sourabh Gupta September 15th, 2009 Sourabh Gupta, Senior Research Associate at Samuels International Associates, Inc., writes, “the Hatoyama government issued Defense Guidelines could potentially facilitate the SDF’s deployment in threat-based instances, both in rear area military support mode and pre-and-post-conflict ‘policing’ mode collective security operations – subject to the minimum condition that such deployment be covered by an explicit U.N. Chapter VII mandate. And by the same token, military or policing activities beyond individual self-defense ceilings that are seen to be loosely authorized, either of its own accord or at the initiative of the U.S. and select allies, will not be entertained - short of Japan suffering a direct armed attack.” [Japanese remilitarisation] [US Japan alliance]
• Japan Should Cut ‘Useless’ Missile Defense, DPJ Official Says
  By Sachiko Sakamaki and Takashi Hirokawa Sept. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Japan’s new government will likely cut missile defense spending because it isn’t effective in thwarting attacks from countries such as North Korea, a senior Democratic Party of Japan official said. “Missile defense is almost totally useless,” said Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi, a Lower House lawmaker who served as the party’s deputy defense spokesman prior to its Aug. 30 election victory. “Only one or two out of 100 are ever effective,” he said yesterday in an interview in his Tokyo office. Reducing missile defense would come as North Korea, Japan’s closest military threat, boosts its nuclear and missile capability. [Missile defense] [Threat] [Japanese remilitarisation]
• Legacies of Empire and Occupation: The Making of the Korean Diaspora in Japan
  Mark E. Caprio and Yu Jia The August 15, 1945 announcement by the Japanese Emperor declaring Japan’s intention to accept the Allied forces’ terms of unconditional surrender sent Koreans throughout the empire into the streets in celebration. For the first time in decades they could freely associate with their fellow countrymen, communicate in their native language, and wave their national flag (taegeukgi) as Koreans without fear of punishment.[1] Koreans celebrate independence on August 15, 1945 Reports authored by United States government agencies, relying on Japanese statistics, estimated that three to four million Koreans resided overseas at this time. Korean communities could be found throughout the eastern part of the Asian continent (including the Russian Far East where bands of guerrillas fought the Japanese), as well as in other parts of the Japanese Empire including the Dutch East Indies, Hong Kong, the Philippines, the South Pacific, Taiwan, and Sakhalin where many had been sent as soldiers or laborers. In addition, Koreans migrant populations could be found in Australia and Hawaii. The majority of overseas Koreans, however, resided in Japan and Manchuria (Manchukuo). A 1945 U.S. Joint Intelligence Study estimated that there were 1.45 million Koreans in Japan and 1.475 million in Manchuria.[2] By the end of the war, Japan’s Korean population would reach between 2 and 2.4 million. [Japanese colonialism]
• Recession Can't Stop Japan's Online Shoppers
  Japan September 4, 2009, 10:55AM EST A rise in the number of stay-at-home shoppers in Japan means the online shopping industry outstrips sales at department stores and convenience stores By Hiroko Tashiro
  It never rains but it pours for Japan's department store operators, once the driving force behind Japan's bubble-era consumerism. This summer already-flagging sales plunged further as recession-hit consumers cut back on spending. Nature didn't help out, either, as poor weather hurt sales. Yet, even when the recession eases and the weather improves, don't expect a big bounce in sales. These days, Japan's recession-hit shoppers increasingly prefer to shop without ever leaving home. [IM]
• North Korea eyes fruitful ties with next Japan PM: Kyodo
  Thursday, September 10, 2009; 5:33 AM TOKYO (Reuters) - North Korea's nominal No. 2 leader has called for "fruitful relations" with Japan's next prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, but ties will depend on how Tokyo tackles issues such as compensation for Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule, Kyodo news agency reported on Thursday. [Overtures]
• Japan between Alliance and Community
  By Yul Sohn September 8th, 2009
  Yul Sohn, Professor of International Studies at Yonsei University, writes, “a traditional military alliance is necessary yet insufficient to deal with Japan’s new strategic dilemmas… Japanese leaders should recognize that what is needed is not tightening up but transforming the alliance structure into a complex one.” [US Japan alliance]
• Hatoyama’s New Path and Washington’s Anxiety
  September 6th, 2009 Author: Ryo Sahashi On August 26, election fever had hit Japan, and an op-ed signed by Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) leader Yukio Hatoyama appeared in the International Herald Tribune (IHT) Asian edition and the New York Times website. The piece elicited anxiety and criticism from some Japan watchers, especially in policymaking and media circles in Washington. [DPJ] [US Japan alliance] [Decline]
• Escape from Dependency: An Agenda for Transforming the Structure of Japanese Security and the US-Japan Relationship
  Maeda Tetsuo Translated by Vic Koschmann Anticipating the August 2009 electoral victory of the Democratic Party of Japan, which has promised to adopt a more assertive stance toward Washington, in July 2009 defense specialist Maeda Tetsuo presented concrete set of proposals for transforming the Japan-U.S. security relationship and paving the way for a more proactive Japanese role in Eastern Asia. These proposals have taken on more immediate relevance since the election, which swept the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party from office in a landslide. What does the conclusion in February 2009 of the Japan-U.S. agreement to relocate United States Marines from Okinawa to Guam suggest with respect to the foreign policy of the Obama administration?[1] The conclusion seems unavoidable: the Obama administration is seeking to maintain the status quo and protect vested interests. [Continuity] [US Japan alliance]
• General Elections Held in Japan
  Pyongyang, August 31 (KCNA) -- General elections took place in Japan on August 30. The election returns showed that the Democratic Party of Japan gained more than majority seats in the House of Representatives while the Liberal Democratic Party suffered a heavy defeat. This caused the transition of power from the LDP to the DP in Japan.
• Japan's Evermore Undisguised Moves to Turn Itself into Military Power Blasted
  Pyongyang, September 1 (KCNA) -- The Ministry of Defense of Japan was reported to have officially decided to deploy throughout Japan an expanded network of PAC-3 as part of the moves for establishing the missile defense system (MD) to cope with the "missile threat" from the DPRK. Commenting on this, a news analyst of Rodong Sinmun Tuesday says: The above-said fact suggests that Japan's moves for turning itself into a military power aimed at overseas aggression are being pushed forward at a more practical phase. The Japanese reactionaries accustomed to pulling up others are absurdly claiming that the above-said moves are designed to cope with the "missile threat" from the DPRK. [Japanese remilitarisation] [Threat]
• “To Protect Japan’s Peace We Need Guns and Rockets:” The Military Uses of Popular Culture in Current-day Japan
  Sabine Frühstück While popular culture across the political spectrum has dealt with the imperial armed forces and the Asia-Pacific War (Penney 2008, Gerow 2006), it has been hesitant to embrace the Self-Defense Forces, however, the Self-Defense Forces’ public relations apparatus has long acknowledged the power of popular culture. This essay is about how the Self-Defense Forces tap into Japan’s popular culture and try to fill a void of military representation by employing the techniques and strategies of popular cultural production in their public relations, image-making and self-presentation efforts. [Japanese remilitarisation]
• TRANSFER OF POWER / DPJ to submit N. Korea cargo inspections bill
  The Yomiuri Shimbun As one of its first legislative actions after taking power, the Democratic Party of Japan plans to present a bill in an extraordinary Diet session in autumn to permit inspections of North Korean ship and aircraft cargoes in line with a U.N. Security Council sanction resolution against Pyongyang, a senior party official said Tuesday. The planned legislation will be much the same as the bill for a special measures law that the Cabinet of Prime Minister Taro Aso introduced in the last ordinary Diet sitting, he said. That bill was scrapped because of objections from the opposition camp. The DPJ considers it imperative for a new administration led by the party to take an overtly stern stance against North Korea over its nuclear programs, according to the official. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the senior DPJ official said, "With the aim of clarifying our party's diplomatic posture concerning North Korean issues, the incoming new government should enact the anti-Pyongyang legislation as early as possible." [Japan NK policy] [Continuity]

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AUGUST 2009

• China outraged as Japan’s sabre rattler calls for nuclear arms
  Michael Sheridan in Tokyo August 23, 2009 A TROUBLING insight into ultra-conservative thinking at the top of Japan’s armed forces has emerged after the dismissal of Toshio Tamogami, the chief of the air staff. He has become a hero to right-wing groups since being sacked last year for writing an article that said imperial Japan was not an aggressor in the second world war. His popularity has caused outrage in China and it could provide an early diplomatic headache for the opposition Democratic Party of Japan if, as expected, it wins the general election on August 30. A book outlining his philosophy has sold 100,000 copies since March and 20,000 copies of a second book calling for Japan to develop an atomic bomb were printed earlier this month. Tamogami, 61, is giving 20 speeches a month on conspiracy theories and anti-western themes of Japanese victimhood.
  The words of the former air force chief have given pause for thought to experts who believe Japan has the plutonium, the technology and the brainpower to acquire the bomb quickly if it ever changes its mind [Japanese remilitarisation] [Nuclearisation]
• Aso Mining’s Indelible Past: Verifying Japan’s Use of Allied POWs Through Historical Records
  Fukubayashi Toru Translated by William Underwood
  Mr. Aso Taro served as foreign minister from October 2005 to August 2007 and has been prime minister since September 2008. Born as the scion of the Aso conglomerate that accumulated wealth by mining the Chikuho coalfields of Fukuoka Prefecture beginning in the Meiji era, Mr. Aso served as president of Aso Cement Company, one of Aso Group’s core businesses, before becoming a member of the Diet in 1979. During World War II an estimated 10,000 Korean laborers were used by Aso Mining Company, which was headed by Mr. Aso Taro’s father and was the mainstay of the Aso zaibatsu. Details were revealed in two recent SEKAI articles: “The Aso Family’s Past and Present” by Mr. Yokota Hajime (January 2009), and “Aso Mining and Korean Forced Labor” by Nishinarita Yutaka (March 2009 issue). Moreover, Aso Mining has a history of using 300 Allied prisoners of war from May 1945 until Japan’s surrender. [Japanese colonialism] [Human rights] [Aso Taro]
• Japan and the United Arab Emirates – A Nuclear Family?
  David Adam Stott Concerned about the sustainability of its oil and gas reserves, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been taking steps to diversify its economy and reduce its dependence on natural resource exports. The most eye-catching of these changes has been the rapid development of Dubai as a finance, services and travel hub in the last decade. A further plank in this strategy has recently been revealed: UAE plans to embark upon a nuclear power programme. Emphasising transparency and close cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it hopes to have the first of its reactors on line by 2017. Rather than taking the more tortuous route of developing indigenous expertise, the Emirates have been proposing joint-venture schemes with foreign contractors to construct and operate its nuclear power plants. Japan became the fourth such country to sign a bilateral nuclear cooperation agreement after France, the USA, and the UK. To secure their participation, and to maintain its image as an outward-looking, foreign investment-friendly nation, the Emirates has stressed that it will not enrich uranium itself but import nuclear fuel for its plants. These supplies will come from a foreign partner and, furthermore, the UAE will return all spent nuclear fuel rather than reprocess it. The IAEA will also have the right to conduct snap inspections and be allowed unlimited access to the nuclear sites. This stands in marked contrast to Iran, which persists with enrichment which can be used for producing weapons material despite claiming its nuclear programme is also aimed solely at generating electricity. To acquire nuclear weapons it is necessary to either pursue uranium enrichment or develop spent fuel reprocessing capabilities which can produce the necessary plutonium. [Nuclear energy] [Sovereignty] [Double standards]
• Japan to Set Up More Patriot Missiles Against N.Korea
  The Japanese government has decided to deploy Patriot Advanced Capability 3 surface-to-air interceptor missiles at all six antiaircraft artillery units across Japan against the threat of North Korean ballistic missiles, the Sankei Shimbun reported Sunday. Currently, PAC3 missiles are deployed at three nationwide Air Self-Defense Force units to defend the Tokyo metropolitan, Kansai and Kyushu regions. But the Japanese government decided to deploy them at the other three units to defend the entire country in view of North Korea's improved missile capabilities, the daily said. The three new units are Hokkaido, Okinawa, and Aomori in Tohoku. The country's Defense Ministry plans to ask for money from next year's budget for the plan. [Japanese remilitarisation] [Threat]
• 878th Wednesday Demonstration
  Six women who had been forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War 2 hold their 878th Wednesday demonstration in front of the Embassy of Japan in South Korea with approximately 300 members of civic organizations on Aug 12, three days before the national holiday commemorating Korea’s independence. The Wednesday Demonstration has been held every Wednesday since Jan 8, 1992 when activists attempted to secure a Japanese government apology during then-Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa’s visit to South Korea. [Japanese colonialism] [War crimes]
• The Financial Crisis and the Tectonic Shifts in the US-Japan Relationship
  R Taggart Murphy
  Daniel Okimoto has written an important article for the Asia Pacific Review (vol 16, #1, 2009, pp. 35-55) on the implications of the ongoing financial crisis for US capital dependence on Japan and China. Abridged versions of the article have appeared in both the Japanese and English language editions of the Asahi Shimbun. Okimoto's analysis provides a springboard for wider reflections on how the crisis is bringing on tectonic shifts in the US-Japan relationship – and ultimately may alter Japan's place in the world. [FDI] [Development strategy] [Reserve]
• Li Ying’s “Yasukuni”: The Controversy Continues
  John Junkerman On March 5, 2009, the first hearing in a civil suit against Chinese film director Li Ying was held in the Tokyo District Court. It was, ironically, twenty years to the day since Li first took up residence in Japan, and a year after his documentary, “Yasukuni,” became the center of a political maelstrom when all five theaters scheduled to premiere the film suddenly cancelled their screenings. The cancellations were prompted by threats from right-wing nationalists to disrupt the screenings, coupled with harsh criticism of the political slant of the film by conservative members of the Japanese Diet (see David McNeill and John Junkerman, Freedom Next Time. Japanese Neonationalists Seek to Silence Yasukuni Film). Dozens of civil liberty and media organizations responded with statements condemning what was seen as political censorship, and theaters across the country stepped up with offers to screen the film. “Yasukuni” will have its US premiere at the Film Forum in New York on August 12, and it will open at more than a dozen theaters in South Korea on August 6. [Japanese colonialism]
• Japan wary of being left out of U.S.-North Korea talks
  By Toru Higashioka The Asahi Shimbun 2009/8/6
  The government on Wednesday remained cautious about how the surprise visit to North Korea by former U.S. President Bill Clinton would affect international efforts to resolve the crisis over the reclusive nation's nuclear and missile programs and other issues. While officials in Tokyo welcomed the release of two American journalists held by North Korea, they wondered whether Japan-U.S. cooperation in dealing with Pyongyang would suffer if Washington decides to meet the reclusive state halfway on the nuclear issue. [Clinton0908] [US Japan NK]

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JULY 2009

• History Too Long Denied: Japan’s Unresolved Colonial Past and Today’s North Korea Problem
  Gavan McCormack The year 2010 will mark the centenary of Japanese colonial rule over the Korean peninsula, but, 64 years after that colonial rule was liquidated, North Korea, Japan’s neighbour, remains the one country in the world with which it has no relations. That failure to reconcile and to normalize has had, and continues to have, large consequences. The bitterness and anger that feed on the absence of normality fester and threaten to plunge the region back into war. If Asia is to have a future beyond conflict, the “North Korea problem,” meaning that country’s unresolved colonial relations with Japan (which is much different from the meaning usually intended by US and Japanese policy makers, as discussed below), and its unresolved war with the US and UN, must be addressed. Over the past decade, Japanese governments have made much use of the “North Korean threat” to deepen their level of subjection to US regional and global aims, sending Japanese forces to the Indian Ocean and Iraq, endorsing a much tighter integration of Japan’s Defense Forces as a whole under the US, removing barriers to their active service on “collective security” missions, and taking preliminary steps towards revising the constitution to facilitate those processes
  When North Korea in 2008 had almost completed its obligations under Phase Two, however, the agreement broke down. It broke down partly because the US tried to widen its terms, adding provisions on “verification” that would, if adopted, have entitled US-led teams to probe North Korea virtually at will, and partly because Japan refused to honour its obligation to provide heavy fuel oil. Obama, having promised to talk to Kim Jong Il, made little effort to do so, instead choosing to follow the lead of Japan and South Korea in isolating North Korea. Since both those countries were reneging on their agreements with the North,[9] he was in effect choosing stick over carrot. North Korea, required to yield more than it had bargained for, and offered less than it had been promised, slowed, stopped, and eventually reversed its compliance. The common understanding of the “North Korean problem” – that it stems from North Korean stubbornness, deceitfulness and fanaticism - is thus quite false.
  Yet, everyone who studies North Korea agrees on one thing: it does not yield to pressure. Most also agree that, treated with respect and as an equal partner in serious negotiations, North Korea is tough but consistent in what it seeks and has shown in the past that it abides by agreements once entered so long as other parties do likewise. For this reason, from a US standpoint North Korea should be one of the easiest rather than hardest foreign policy nuts to crack, assuming Washington is prepared to abide by negotiated agreements. [Japanese remilitarisation] [Threat] [Renege] [Continuity]
• Why Japan’s Cellphones Haven’t Gone Global
  Japanese cellphone makers want to expand, but their clever handsets do not work on other networks.
  By HIROKO TABUCHI Published: July 19, 2009 TOKYO — At first glance, Japanese cellphones are a gadget lover’s dream: ready for Internet and e-mail, they double as credit cards, boarding passes and even body-fat calculators.
  Competition is fierce in the relatively small Japanese cellphone market, with eight manufacturers. But it is hard to find anyone in Chicago or London using a Japanese phone like a Panasonic, a Sharp or an NEC. Despite years of dabbling in overseas markets, Japan’s handset makers have little presence beyond the country’s shores. [ICT] [IM] [Globalisation]
• The North Korea nuclear crisis: Five guiding principles
  July 14th, 2009 Author: Hitoshi Tanaka, JCIE North Korea’s nuclear weapons program has posed a clear danger to peace and stability in East Asia for the past two decades. North Korea’s recent acts, including its July 2006 missile tests, October 2006 and May 2009 nuclear tests, and April 2009 ‘satellite launch,’ coupled with its insistence that it would never return to the Six-Party Talks, clearly demonstrate that circumstances have now devolved into a crisis. [US NK policy][Japan NK]
• Japan's Former Intelligence Chief Convicted Of Fraud
  TOKYO (AFP)--A Tokyo court Thursday gave a former Japanese intelligence agency chief a suspended prison sentence for a fraud case involving an organization linked to North Korea. Shigetake Ogata, the ex-head of the Public Security Intelligence Agency, was given a suspended jail term of 34 months for defrauding the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, or Chongryon. Ogata, 75, was accused of swindling funds and real estate worth about Y480 million ($5.1 million) from Chongryon, which was looking for a buyer for their headquarters in Tokyo.
• Japan's Weapons Industry The potential consequences of Japan’s resumption of arms exports.
  by Gavan Gray . Global Research, July 13, 2009 Reforms being backed by the Japanese government are likely to see further easing of, if not an outright end to, Japan’s stringent restrictions on military arms exports. That this may well be a necessity due to current trends toward joint development of weapons systems between nations and corporations, should in no way be taken to mean it will not have major consequences for Japan. The Japanese arms industry currently exists to serve the Self Defense Forces but should its raison d’être change from national security to profit-making, Japan is likely to see a major increase in both governmental corruption and the ‘revolving door’ system of conflicts of interest, which have compromised the security of nations such as the UK and USA. [Japanese remilitarisation] [Arms sales]
• Financial-Economic Crisis and the Asia Pacific
  World Economic and Financial Crisis, Japan and the Asia Pacific During the opening act of the financial crisis, Japan stood offstage. What did Japan have to do with a crisis whose origins seemed to lie in a U.S. real estate bubble and lax American regulation? But as the crisis threatens to engulf the entire planet in a second Great Depression, eyes have turned to East Asia and the Pacific. Not simply because, contrary to earlier hopes, Japan and its neighbors cannot avoid damage to their own economies. But because of three other issues. First, Japan recently endured its own domestic version of a real estate bubble that burst into a financial crisis. The seeming parallels between what happened to Japan in the early 1990s and what is going on today in the United States have caught the attention not simply of journalists and analysts, but key decision makers including the Chairman of the Federal Reserve and the incoming Secretary of the Treasury. We will consider lessons from other economic pandemics, too, such as the relative success of the US and Japanese economies in responding to the depression of the 1930s. Second, because the Japanese postwar model of export-led growth, copied to a greater or lesser extent by China, Korea and the other leading Asian economies, helped facilitate what has happened. Central to this model was the accumulation of reserves denominated in the dollars earned from exports -- reserves that, by definition, stayed inside the U.S. banking system since they were denominated in dollars. These reserves permitted the United States to run the endless "deficits without tears" that both provided an outlet for Asia's exports and facilitated irresponsible policy making in Washington. The two largest holders of those hundreds of billions of dollars of reserves are China and Japan. In short, East Asian economies are closely linked to the origins and outcomes of the US financial crisis both as a result of the massive US deficits and their purchase of US treasuries that long enabled the deficit to grow. Third, some analysts see the present crisis as heralding the end of US hegemony and the rise of East Asia and other regions and nations as a likely outcome. [Decline]

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JUNE 2009

• Some Operations of Citigroup Suspended in Japan
  By CHRIS NICHOLSON Published: June 26, 2009 PARIS — Japanese regulators ordered Citibank on Friday to suspend all sales operations in its retail banking division for a month starting July 15 because the lender had failed “to make notification of suspicious transactions, including money laundering.” In a statement, the Financial Services Authority cited “fundamental problems with CJL’s compliance and governance system,” referring to Citibank Japan Ltd. by its initials. “CJL has not accurately identified a series of problems that were recently found,” the agency added, “and the effectiveness of the internal audit has not been ensured.” [DBA] [Double standards]
• MSDF, JCG to inspect North Korea-linked cargo
  The Yomiuri Shimbun A ruling coalition project team decided Tuesday to assign both the Japan Coast Guard and the Maritime Self-Defense Force to inspect vessels sailing to and from North Korea under U.N. Security Council Resolution 1874, which imposes sanctions against Pyongyang for its recent nuclear test. The roles of the JCG and the MSDF will not be clearly defined so that each can flexibly respond to possible incidents during their missions, sources said. Under the envisaged ship inspection operations law, the MSDF will be allowed to act without prior approval from the Diet. [Resolution1874] [Japanese remilitarisation]
• Japan left key straits open for U.S. nukes
  Kyodo News Monday, June 22, 2009 Japan has avoided extending its territorial waters to cover five key straits to avoid political disputes arising from the passage of U.S. warships carrying nuclear weapons, according to accounts of former top Japanese officials. When the boundaries were set in the late 1970s, it was believed the U.S. would have continued to transport nuclear weapons through the channels regardless of whether they were considered Japanese territorial waters or not. Japan's territorial waters in the Soya, Tsugaru, Osumi, Tsushima and Korea straits have been set at 3 nautical miles (5.6 km) from shore, instead of the maximum allowable limit of 12 nautical miles (22 km). U.S. vessels carrying nuclear weapons, including submarines with nuclear missiles, must have passed through the key choke points on their way to the Sea of Japan to act as a deterrent to the former Soviet Union, China and North Korea, according to some former vice foreign ministers. Vice foreign minister is the ministry's top bureaucratic post, while the minister is usually a politician from the Diet. If the boundaries had been set at 12 nautical miles, there would have been no areas of open sea in some sections, forcing the vessels to cross Japanese waters and thus infringe on Japan's three nonnuclear principles of not possessing, producing or allowing nuclear weapons on its territory, they said. [Sovereignty]
• Rejecting high-risk coexistence with North Korea
  June 17th, 2009 Guest Author: Ken Jimbo, Keio University Although much remains murky regarding the technical details, North Korea’s second nuclear test on May 25 was considerably bigger and far more sophisticated than the previous one.
  There is every reason to believe that Pyongyang’s consistent basic goal is to maintain its regime. We can assume, as long as Kim’s decision making is rational, that the probability oftaking the offensive adventurism by North Korea is very low. The track record of Pyongyang’s negotiating behavior suggests that they have carefully avoided the escalation into a full-scale military confrontation. [NK Japan relations] [US NK policy]
• Bill to let SDF refuel ships inspecting cargo to North
  By Hisashi Ishimatsu The Asahi Shimbun 2009/6/18 Japan will refuel warships and transport personnel of foreign military forces inspecting vessels bound for North Korea, but Tokyo's support will not include the use of weapons, according to a draft bill. The Japanese government and the ruling parties have drafted a special measures bill in line with a United Nations Security Council resolution adopted Friday calling on member nations to inspect the cargoes of vessels heading to North Korea. The new sanctions against North Korea in the resolution were approved to protest Pyongyang's underground nuclear test May 25. Japan's rear-echelon support will take place in Japanese territorial waters or in open seas surrounding Japan, according to the draft. The new special measures bill was drafted because the current law on cargo inspections does not apply to the situation now. The current law refers to emergency situations in areas surrounding Japan that could have a serious impact on the nation's peace and security. The ruling parties plan to set up a project team for the new bill and start working out details next week. They plan to submit the bill to the current Diet session, although passage of the legislation is unclear because the current term of Lower House lawmakers expires Sept. 10. If the Diet passes the bill, it will become possible for the SDF to inspect cargoes and conduct support activities similar to those stipulated under the current law. The draft also stipulates that the Japan Coast Guard or Self-Defense Forces can inspect cargoes based on the judgment of the prime minister. But the prime minister will not have the final say. Consent from the country with which the vessel is registered and an agreement from the captain are required before Japan can inspect cargo on a vessel bound for North Korea, according to the draft. The use of weapons in the inspections is limited to legitimate self-defense or emergency evacuations.(IHT/Asahi: June 18,2009) [PSI] [Sanctions] [Japanese remilitarisation]
• N Korea would attack Japan in event of war: U.S. scholar
  Thursday 18th June, 11:41 AM JST WASHINGTON — North Korea would attack Japan if another war with the reclusive country erupted as a result of efforts to implement recently strengthened U.N. sanctions against Pyongyang over its second nuclear test, a U.S. scholar said Wednesday. Selig Harrison, Asia Program director at the Washington-based Center for International Policy, who visited North Korea in January, sounded the warning during a House Foreign Affairs Committee subcommittee hearing on North Korea policy. ‘‘In the event of another war with North Korea resulting from efforts to enforce the U.N. sanctions, it is Japan that North Korea would attack, in my view, not South Korea,’’ he said. ‘‘Nationalistic younger generals with no experience of the outside world are now in a strong position in the North Korean leadership’’ in the wake of the illness suffered by the country’s leader Kim Jong Il last year that led to ‘‘his reduced role in day-to-day management,’’ he said. [Japanese colonialism] [NK Japan relations] [Inversion] [Media]
• Article Nine in Context – Limitations of National Sovereignty and the Abolition of War in Constitutional Law
  Klaus Schlichtmann1 For my friend, William R. Carter, who loved Japan and suddenly passed away on 25 April 2009 I. When we discuss Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution, we have to take into account the history and purpose of postwar constitutions in other countries as well, with regard to peace, disarmament and an international order that would be based on principles of justice and enforceable law. Central issue here is the collective security of the United Nations that would enable all countries to disarm, and resolve their conflicts peacefully.
  The Japanese Cabinet Legislation Bureau (CLB), which is the “primary authority on the interpretation of Article 9,” (Martin: 316ff) has, as Craig Martin has shown, been extremely conscientious in keeping the core essence of Article 9 intact. What the CLB has been doing, since it was instated by Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru in 1957, is something well known to jurists, i.e. applying remedies (J. kyusaisaku), to protect the provision’s legal substance. In other words, the changing interpretation over the years is nothing else but the application of remedial measures to protect Article 9. Remedies are legitimate instruments to uphold an important legal principle in a changing environment. The concept of “self-help” (jiriki kyusai), in relation to Article 9, is also important in this regard, since it explains and gives credence to the existence of the SDF. In this author’s view, the Japanese government should be seen not as bent on “revision by interpretation” to undermine Article 9, but as a responsible agency attempting, in an unfriendly international environment, to uphold the clause against many odds, including foreign pressure. In the process a certain erosion of the “outer layers” has been inevitable and could in the end affect the core, if no action is taken by the international community to restrict and ultimately abolish the institution of war. The consequences of such inaction should be obvious. [Japanese remilitarisation] [Inversion]
• The Homecoming of Japanese Hostages from Iraq: Culturalism or Japan in America’s Embrace?
  Marie Thorsten In the spring of 2004, five Japanese civilians doing volunteer aid and media work in Iraq were kidnapped, threatened and released unharmed by Iraqi militant groups in two separate, overlapping incidents lasting just over one week. On their return to Japan (16 April 2004), the hostages appeared defensively solemn, having been harshly criticized and shamed for their effrontery to travel to a government-declared danger zone and undertake anti-war actions perceived as critical of both the Japanese and U.S. presence in Iraq. More than the abductions themselves, the inhospitable homecoming seized headlines around the world and marked one of the most searing images in Japan’s controversial involvement in the American-led war.
• Lifting Japan's Curse of Muddling Through
  Karel van Wolferen Save for a short break in the 1990s, Japan’s distinctive system of one-party rule has been in place now for almost 55 years. But as the economy lurches through its deepest-ever postwar crisis, confidence in Liberal-Democratic Party rule is at low ebb. Might change be at last in the offing? The ruling party still enjoys the majority it gained when the charismatic Koizumi Junichiro went to the country four years ago calling for privatization of postal services as the centre-piece of a neo-liberal reform package, but circumstances have greatly changed since then. The people were not consulted when Koizumi was succeeded by two Prime Ministers (Abe and Fukuda) who both threw in the towel after short terms, nor when the present incumbent, Aso Taro, took office in September 2008. Aso’s support levels, never high, sank as his administration suffered from scandals and incompetence, falling to just over ten per cent as Aso tried to distance himself from Koizumi’s agenda and as his closest colleague, Finance Minister Nakagawa, turned up drunk to a G7 meeting in February. Since then, it has recovered slightly, especially as the opposition Democratic Party experienced serious troubles, alluded to in the following paper. Elections must be held by September at the latest. Here seasoned political commentator, Karel van Wolferen, author of the best-selling The Enigma of Japanese Power (1990), offers his reflections on the prospects for change, written in the immediate wake of the replacement of Ozawa Ichiro as head of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan by Hatoyama Ichiro. GMcC
  nd such steering control should make it possible for Japan to free itself from a deep dependency on the United States. Japan may not be a protectorate of the United States in name, but in practice it is about as close to being a protectorate as possible. Except for Japan's domestic affairs, which Washington does not understand and over which it has, at best, only sometimes a very tenuous grip.
• The North Korean test: a study in powerlessness
  May 27th, 2009 Author: Tobias Harris With its second nuclear test in three years, North Korea continues to illustrate the limits of the power of the US, China, and the international community as a whole.
  The response from Japan and other countries has been predictable. Prime Minister Aso Taro spoke of the gravity of this latest development for Japanese national security and stressed cooperation with the US and the international community at the UN Security Council. The House of Representatives moved swiftly to draft a resolution condemning North Korea that could pass as early as Tuesday. The LDP leadership called the test ‘outrageous.’ Okada Katsuya, the new DPJ secretary-general, echoed the government’s sentiments. Japanese conservatives used the test to advance their argument for a more robust Japanese security posture. Abe Shinzo, continuing his comeback effort, demanded firmer sanctions against North Korea, especially against North Korean counterfeiting activities, called for preemptive strike capabilities, and was vaguely supportive of a debate about acquiring nuclear weapons (’A debate on matters of national security ought to be conducted freely’). Komori Yoshihisa said that the test illustrates the limits of the multilateral management of the North Korean problem and argued that Japan, doing whatever it needs to do defend itself, should reopen the debate on a nuclear deterrent. A Sankei ‘news’ article informs readers that North Korea has the power of life and death over Japan, based strictly on the range of the missiles it possesses. In other words, much like last month’s rocket launch, the responses of Japanese political actors to North Korea’s second nuclear test have followed wholly predictable patterns — and show just how powerless Japan is to stop or reverse North Korea’s nuclear program. Of note is that Japan’s conservatives once again have responded as if the US-Japan alliance and its nuclear umbrella does not exist. Indeed, it is remarkable how cavalier the conservatives are in their disregard for the nuclear umbrella. This is now the standard conservative argument: play up the North Korean threat, play down the US ability to meet that threat, and let a vicious cycle of fear and doubt take over. [Test] [Threat] [Japanese remilitarisation]

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MAY 2009

• An Unwelcome Déjà vu: A New US-North Korea Missile Deal
  Hideya Kurata 20 May 2009 No.67 When I look at North Korea's foreign policy toward the United States, I often get caught up in a feeling of déjà vu. This is not without cause. In contrast to the US, whose North Korean policy shifts in accordance to a change of government or of personnel with the same government, North Korea has had almost the same people in charge of its American policy since the first nuclear crisis some ten years ago. Throughout the period, the country has aimed at securing deterrence against the US by developing nuclear weapons and missiles and seeking from the US compensation for halting the development at crucial junctures. After the launch some ten years ago of Taepodong-I, which North Korea claimed to be a satellite launch, North Korea agreed to a moratorium on testing ballistic missiles while talks with the United States were underway in Berlin in September 1999. On behalf of the US, Secretary of Defense William Perry presented a comprehensive framework for negotiation in the so-called "Perry report," which covered not only nuclear but also missile issues. The US-North Korea relationship took a step forward before President Bill Clinton's planned visit to Pyongyang via the issuance of a joint communiqué in October 2000. Japan was then highly frustrated by this diplomatic development. It came at a time when South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung and North Korea's leader Kim Jong-Il were also meeting in a historic North-South summit, and Japan's relationship with North Korea was being overshadowed by the South-North Korean and US-North Korea relationships. Japan was alarmed by a possible visit by Clinton to Pyongyang because North Korea could take an uncompromising attitude toward Japan on the back of improved relations with the South and the US. Many in Japan's diplomatic circles must have been relieved when Clinton gave up the idea of visiting Pyongyang.
  Japan was alarmed by a possible visit by Clinton to Pyongyang because North Korea could take an uncompromising attitude toward Japan on the back of improved relations with the South and the US. Many in Japan's diplomatic circles must have been relieved when Clinton gave up the idea of visiting Pyongyang.[US NK policy]
• Japan's big guns prepare to rejoin global arms industry
  Leo Lewis, Asia Business Correspondent The huge engineering and technological might of Japan may be poised for a new lease of life as the country prepares to ditch a self-imposed ban on arms exports that was introduced in the mid-1970s. The controversial decision, which is likely to encounter bitter opposition from the country's mainly pacifist middle classes, could deliver significant economic benefits to Japan and lead to a realignment in the global defence industry. A ruling party MP said that the greatest significance would be the conversion of Japan's robotics industry from civilian to military use as the world's defence spending is directed to remote-control hardware, such as drone aircraft. Lifting or toning-down the 33-year old embargo would unleash some of the world's most advanced heavy engineering companies into the international weapons market, one of the few areas of manufacturing where Japan's immense technical resources have, for purely political reasons, not produced a dominant global player [Arms sales] [Japanese remilitarisation] [Threat]
• A 1944 Korean Rebellion Within the Japanese Army: The Testimony of Lieutenant Cheon Sanghwa [1]
  Kiriyama Keiichi Translated by Nobuko ADACHI Korean students secretly planned a rebellion in the 30th Division of the Japanese army based in Heijyo (now Pyongyang, in North Korea). Cheon Sanghwa, a staff officer, was a participant in the plan. He fought against Japan for an independent Korea. [2] By sabotaging the Japanese army from inside, he contributed to Japan's defeat in the Second World War. This was in 1944. Now eighty-seven years old, he lives in Seoul. This year is the 65th anniversary of Korean students departing for the front. These students, who were not subject to the normal draft, were forced to volunteer for the Japanese army. Wishing for the independence of their country from Japan, they must have felt conflicted over volunteering. This is “the verbatim record” of the life and death experiences of Cheon Sanghwa. [Japanese colonialism] [Japanese collaborator]
• Obama Supporter Nominated as Envoy to Japan
  John Roos John Roos, a lawyer without diplomatic experience, has been nominated as the next U.S. ambassador to Japan. The campaign supporter of U.S. President Barack Obama was picked over Joseph Nye, a Harvard University professor who was believed the likelier candidate. A graduate of Stanford University Law School, Roos has chiefly handled mergers and acquisitions of IT businesses in Silicon Valley. He still is the head of a law firm and has no political or diplomatic experience. Nor does he seem to have any previous relationship with Japan, the Asahi Shimbun reports.
• Japan's GDP Continues Rapid Decline
  Annualized 15.2% Drop Is Steepest in 50 Years, 4th in 4 Quarters
  By Blaine Harden Washington Post Foreign Service Wednesday, May 20, 2009 TOKYO, May 20 -- Japan's export-addicted economy shrank during the first quarter at the fastest pace in more than 50 years, continuing a dismal trend that since last year has made it the worst performer among major countries. A sustained collapse in exports, especially of cars and electronics to the United States, led to an annualized 15.2 percent decline in the gross domestic product in the first quarter of this year, the government said Wednesday. That was after a 14.4 percent annualized decline from October to December. Japan's rate of contraction is more than double that of the United States, where GDP shrank at an annualized rate of 6.1 percent in the first quarter. For the first time on record, the total value of goods and services produced in Japan fell for four consecutive quarters, the government said. [Spin] [Inversion]
• The ICNND and Japanese Civil Society
  By Kawasaki Akira May 6th, 2009
  Kawasaki Akira, Peace Boat Executive Committee member and ICNND NGO Advisor, writes, “There are several evident tasks for Japanese civil society in relation to its upcoming engagement with the ICNND. Firstly… civil society efforts to ensure the participation of Diet members and key party policy-makers as part of its engagement with the ICNND will be key… The second task is to utilise ICNND debates as the first step towards a reexamination of Japan's nuclear disarmament policy in the leadup to the 2010 NPT Review Conference… The third task is… [that] civil society engagement with the ICNND must not be limited to just Japan, but also spread to Korea, China, and the whole of Northeast Asia.”

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APRIL 2009

• Japan to Launch Military-Purpose Satellites
  The Japanese government could launch an early warning satellite that can detect missile launches abroad by 2013. It also wants to increase the number of reconnaissance satellites from the current three to four. The Strategic Headquarters for Space Policy of the Japanese Cabinet Office finalized a five-year space policy plan Monday. "For the first time, it is stipulated in writing that space technology can be used for national defense," the Nihon Keizai Shimbun wrote. Military use of technology is an unusually sensitive subject in Japan because of its pacifist postwar Constitution. [Satellite] [Japanese remilitarisation] [Double standards]
• KCNA Rebukes Japan's Moves to Go Nuclear
  Pyongyang, April 28 (KCNA) -- The Japanese reactionaries have become all the more undisguised in their moves to go nuclear. Former Minister of Finance Nakagawa blustered on April 5 and 19 that "it would be better to hold discussion on nuclear weapons" and "nuclear weapons can be coped with in kind only." The recently released book "How strong 'SDF'" says that "the most effective means for becoming a self-reliant country is to go nuclear." An operation to bring approximately 1.8 tons of nuclear substance from France is already underway. This indicates that the militarist tendency guided by the theory that "a country should have access to nukes to become a militarily ordinary country" prevails in the Japanese society and that the Japanese reactionaries' moves for nuclear weaponization have entered the phase of full implementation. [Japanese remilitarisation] [Nuclearisation]
• Japan Entirely to Blame for Bringing Six-Party Talks to Collapse
  Pyongyang, April 28 (KCNA) -- Shortly ago, the Chief Cabinet Secretary of Japan at a press conference pointed an accusing finger at the DPRK, talking about "fulfillment of commitment" according to the September 19 joint statement and "return to talks" and the like. He also asked the countries concerned to exercise their influence, asserting that "the six-party talks are very important" and the international community should "jointly cope with the situation." Minju Joson Tuesday observes in a signed commentary in this regard: Lurking behind his outbursts is a sinister intention to mislead the public opinion in a bid to evade their blame for bringing the talks to collapse, shift the responsibility onto the DPRK. Another aim sought by him is to weather the daily deepening political crisis under that pretext and secure a justification for accelerating the nuclear weaponization for reinvasion in real earnest. Whenever the talks opened, Japan raised issues completely irrelevant to the talks, deliberately throwing obstacles in their way and making desperate efforts to bring the talks to collapse. When other parties to the talks opted for the implementation of their commitments under the agreement of the six-party talks, only Japan refused to carry out its duty, escalating its economic sanctions against the DPRK. It was none other than Japan which kicked up a racket of intercepting the satellite for peaceful purposes and it was again Japan that behaved more wickedly than any others, asserting that the UN Security Council should "adopt a resolution." Nevertheless, parties to the six-party talks allowed the UN Security Council to issue a "presidential statement' instead of taking issue with Japan's attitude. [Satellite] [NK US Policy] [Six Party Talks]
• Disgruntled Japanese turn to resurgent communists
  Web-savvy Japanese Communist party's message of welfare and jobs lures young voters away from sleazed-mired political mainstream Justin McCurry in Tokyo guardian.co.uk, Monday 27 April 2009 19.02 BST Article historyFaced with an economy in steep decline, rising unemployment and an uncertain future, a growing number of Japanese are shunning the conservative consensus and turning instead to a new brand of cuddly communism. While the leaders of Japan's two main political parties battle poor opinion poll ratings and accusations of sleaze, the Japanese Communist party (JCP) has seen its fortunes transformed after years of being dismissed as an irrelevant hangover from the cold war. In the last 16 months membership has soared to more than 410,000 as the revamped party courts younger voters from the working poor. Of the 14,000 people to have joined since the end of 2007, about a quarter are aged under 30, the party says. That contrasts with the ruling Liberal Democratic party (LDP), whose membership has plummeted from 5 million at its peak to about a million today.
• Nationalism and Anti-Americanism in Japan – Manga Wars, Aso, Tamogami, and Progressive Alternatives
  Matthew Penney In 1967, Astroboy, the Japanese animation and comic book icon, died protecting a North Vietnamese village from American bombers.
  Despite this plot twist, Tezuka Osamu, Japan’s “God of Comics”, ensured that his most famous creation was brought back to life the following week. This narrative dodge did not, however, take away from the powerful condemnation of America’s campaign of indiscriminate bombing that Tezuka conjured. By locating Astro on the side of the bombed, Tezuka sought to build both outrage at the practice of indiscriminate bombing, and sympathy for the victims. Throughout the postwar period, progressive artists, directors, and authors in many countries, not least the United States, have represented the US in critical ways.
  Japanese popular culture, however, also sees the contextless use of anti-Americanism and vague but nonetheless meaningful images that glorify Japan [Dilemma] [Ant-Americanism] [Nationalism]
• ‘Lehman Shock’ Fuels New Wave of Homeless in Osaka
  Stuart Biggs and Masatsugu HORIE Introduction Biggs and Horie have written a thoughtful report on the recent rise in numbers of the homeless in Japan. Its value lies in the links it draws to a serious crisis in the Japanese system of social insurance and welfare support. It is clear from this report—as also described in Toru Shinoda’s recent essay on the New Years Dispatch Workers Village —that the plight of those recently labeled as the “working poor” in Japan is worsening rapidly. Where much other reporting on this problem has tended to focus on the younger homeless who spend their nights in internet cafes or rental video rooms, this report goes beyond that to look at older as well as younger workers, including those in the Airin district of Osaka.
• A Workers’ Paradise Found Off Japan’s Coast
  By MARTIN FACKLER Published: April 21, 2009 HIME ISLAND, Japan — If Marxism had ever produced a functional, prosperous society, it might have looked something like this tiny southern Japanese island. At first glance, there is little to set Hime (pronounced HEE-may) apart from the hundreds of other small inhabited islands that dot the coasts of Japan’s main isles. The 2,519 mostly graying islanders subsist on fishing and shrimp farming, and every summer hold a Shinto religious festival featuring dancers dressed as foxes.
  Islanders admit to the socialist parallels, even while proclaiming themselves political conservatives who vote for the governing right-wing Liberal Democratic Party. Some jokingly take the analogy a step further, comparing themselves to a much more repressive family-run regime in Japan’s geopolitical neighborhood. “Hime Island is North Korea, just a livable version,” Naokazu Koiwa said with a laugh. Mr. Koiwa, 32, repairs fishing boats. Unsurprisingly, the current mayor, Akio Fujimoto, flatly rejects the North Korean comparison. Rather, he and most other islanders call Hime a repository for traditional Japanese values, like economic egalitarianism and social harmony.
  Even by clannish Japan’s standards, the island seems a friendly, close-knit place. Islanders cheerfully greet passing strangers. Roads, parks and even public toilets are immaculate. Doors are left unlocked, and the island has only one policeman. [Media]
• Seoul Regrets Japanese Premier's Offering to Yasukuni
  The foreign ministry has expressed deep regret over Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso's sending of an offering to the Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo that honors 14 top war criminals from the Second World War. In a statement Tuesday, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Moon Tae-young said the event was regrettable as the controversial shrine glorifies Japan's past military atrocities. Earlier, while addressing reporters, the Japanese Premier confirmed his sending of a US$500 potted plant to the shrine to "thank those who had sacrificed their lives for the country." Aso's offering comes in light of Yasukuni's three-day spring festival this week. It also follows former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to the shrine during his term in office that triggered diplomatic tensions with Korea and China. [Yasukuni]
• Japan 'should develop nuclear weapons' to counter North Korea threat
  Japan is facing growing calls to scrap its constitutional ban on nuclear weapons in the face of an increasing threat from North Korea.
  By Danielle Demetriou in Tokyo Last Updated: 2:01PM BST 20 Apr 2009 Shoichi Nakagawa (pictured), suggested that Japan should examine the possibility of defending itself from potential attacks from North Korea by obtaining nuclear weapons Photo: REUTERS A senior Japanese politician has called for Japan to discuss allowing nuclear weapons within its pacifist constitution. Shoichi Nakagawa, former finance minister, suggested that Japan should examine the possibility of defending itself from potential attacks from North Korea by obtaining nuclear weapons.   "It is common sense worldwide that in a purely military sense it is nuclear that can counteract nuclear," Mr Nakagawa, a conservative politician, was quoted as saying by Kyodo News in a speech in his constituency in northern Japan. Mr Nakagawa also said he believed that North Korea was in possession of nuclear warheads and medium range Rodong missiles capable of being delivered to any part of Japan. "North Korea has taken a step toward a system whereby it can shoot without prior notice," said Mr Nakagawa, who resigned as finance minister two months ago after appearing to be drunk at a Group of Seven press conference in Rome, "We have to discuss countermeasures." His comments were made after North Korea announced plans to resume its nuclear programme in protest against a United Nations statement condemning its satellite rocket launch earlier this month. A nation with a famously pacifist constitution since the end of the Second World War, Japan currently endorses a three-point policy of not possessing, producing or allowing entry of nuclear weapons into the country. On Monday, the Japanese government moved swiftly to distance itself from Mr Nakagawa's comments, emphasising its stance against possession of nuclear weapons. Takeo Kawamura, chief cabinet secretary, said: "It's impossible for Japan to get nuclear weapons. [ ] "Japan also has the obligation of observing the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, under which it would not produce nor obtain nuclear weapons." However, it is not the first time that a politician has discussed the possibility of allowing the possession nuclear arms weapons and debated whether this would be permitted within the constitution. Shinzo Abe, a former prime minister, and chief cabinet secretary, Yasuo Fukuda, are among high profile politicians who have previously stated that Japan's pacifist constitution does not preclude the acquisition of nuclear weapons for tactical defence purposes. Japan plans to produce more than 40 per cent of its electricity with nuclear energy by next year. [Japanese remilitarisation] [Nuclearisation] [Threat]
• Aso Mining’s Indelible Past: Prime Minister Aso Should Seek Reconciliation With Former POWs
  Fujita Yukihisa Translated by William Underwood The POW issue as a pillar of Japan’s postwar diplomacy The prisoner of war (POW) issue is one of the major pillars of Japan’s postwar diplomacy. Japan accepted the Potsdam Declaration, which stipulated in Annex II (b) (10) that “stern justice shall be meted out to all war criminals, including those who have visited cruelties upon our prisoners.” In addition, it was Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru, the grandfather of Prime Minister Aso Taro, who signed the San Francisco Peace Treaty. Article 16 of the treaty required Japan to join the Geneva Convention that codified the treatment of prisoners of war. It is extremely regrettable that the POW issue, the cornerstone of postwar Japan’s reentry into the international community and an important diplomatic matter, has remained to this day like a thorn caught in the throat, as no meaningful reconciliation is being achieved with aging former POWs. In January of this year, Prime Minister Aso acknowledged in the Diet for the first time that Aso Mining used 300 Allied POWs during World War Two. Prime Minister Aso is the concerned party to this issue in a dual way: he was once president of the Aso Group and is now prime minister representing the government of Japan, which provided the company with those POWs. [Japanese colonialism] [War crimes]
• Peace Education in Japan’s Schools: A View From the Front Lines
  Orihara Toshio Public High School Teacher, Saitama prefecture I think the Constitution of Japan is well formulated. The preamble starts out saying that we pledge perpetual peace: we are “resolved that never again shall we be visited with the horrors of war through the action of government.” [Japanese remilitarisation]
• Japan’s MSDF Somalia Dispatch: Targeting Pirates or Pirating a Constitutional Reinterpretation?
  By Sourabh Gupta April 17th, 2009
  Sourabh Gupta, Senior Research Associate at Samuels International Associates, Inc., writes, “with each successive adjustment of the legal framework of Japan’s security policy, an even greater separation has tended to set in between the original Article 9 aspiration of a force posture that is non-coercive and built around minimal use of force in defense of exclusively individual self-defense ends, and its actual practice on the ground.” [Japanese remilitarisation]
• What are your thoughts on North Korea in the wake of its recent launch of a missile (sic) over Japan?
  VIEWS FROM THE STREET Tuesday, April 14, 2009 By JULIAN PETERS Luke Harrington, 36 Gardener (Australian) Focusing on the Middle East as a hot spot, the world is failing to pay attention to the simmering tensions between Japan, China and North and South Korea. Yumi Setoguchi, 23 Social studies teacher More frightening than the launch is that the North's feelings toward Japan are still unclear. The U.N. should clarify its stance on North Korea as soon as possible. Scott Thomson, 33 School owner (Scottish) I don't think North Korea is not a serious threat, in the same way that Iraq's "weapons of mass destruction" weren't. However, the country is still a dictatorship. Yukiko Matsuzawa, 27 High school teacher At the moment it is unclear why North Korea launched the missile. We also don't understand how they feel about Japan, so the recent events are very worrying. Joel Bhana, 31 Designer (New Zealand) The launch has further destabilized an already unstable situation and has worried the Japanese, but I try to keep perspective, as it's too easy to distrust what we don't fully know. Sheetal Tailor, 25 Psychologist (British) I don't have a huge knowledge of the history and ties between Japan and the North, but I do think that North Korea is a country we should be cautious of. [Satellite] [Hype]
• Sustainable Keynesianism?: Japan’s Response to Financial-Economic-Environmental Crisis
  Andrew DeWit
  Japan’s exports plummet Simply put, the pace and scale of the damage being endured by the Japanese economy is without precedent among the major industrial economies.
  Suffice it to say, for the moment, that Japan is at present well behind its main competitors in innovating and adopting green technology.
  In short, this is a year in which a great deal is riding on whether a new Japanese leadership reverses Japan’s decline with smart industrial policies and gets seriously in the race to lead in sustainable energy. Hitherto, Japan has faithfully followed the United States into the maelstrom of wars in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. Now it has the opportunity to collaborate as well as compete with a US administration that recognizes the primacy of combining economic recovery with sustainable energy and environmentalism. [Green]
• Lee Protests Japan’s History Distortions
  By Do Je-hae Staff Reporter President Lee Myung-bak expressed regret Saturday over a new Japanese textbook containing what Korea sees as a ``distortion of its wartime atrocities" during a summit meeting in Pattaya, Thailand. Lee sent a firm message to Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso during the summit at the Thai resort. ``Both countries need to look to the future and refrain from any confrontation regarding history issues. There have been such hindrances in our relations in the past but we must work toward stronger ties," Lee said. [Textbook]
• Japan Approves Whitewash History Textbook
  The Japanese government on Thursday approved a history textbook with nearly identical content to one that soured Korea-Japan relations in 2001 by whitewashing the island nation's wartime atrocities. The book says Japan annexed Korea to ensure Japan's national security as well as to protect democracy in Japan. It claims the aim of colonial policy was modernization and makes no mention of the fact that the Imperial Army forced young women from all over Asia into sexual slavery. [Textbook] [Japanese colonialism]
• Newly approved Japanese textbook edition receives tempered reaction from South Korea
  Government issues criticism while President Lee emphasizes “future-oriented South Korea-Japan relations” Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology gave its formal approval Thursday for a middle school history textbook written by the Society for the Creation of New History Textbooks (Tsukurukai), and published by Jiyusha. The Jiyusha edition of the “New History Textbook” has almost identical content with the edition previously written by Tsukurukai and published by Fushosha, including material that legitimizes colonial rule by the Japanese empire and denies its war of aggression [textbook]
• Taboo in Japan: Can Japan Think Strategically about North Korea?
  By Amii Abe April 9th, 2009
  Amii Abe, Visiting Fellow at the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation, writes, “it is simply counterproductive to constantly criticize North Korea and shout demands at them. That is not the way to honestly engage a negotiating partner - even a dishonest one. More importantly, it fails to serve Japan’s legitimate national interests.”
  Needless to say, our programs intentionally tried to arouse Japanese emotions, prejudices and anger towards North Korea. Japanese media, particularly television, simply did not treat North Korea in a balanced manner. We treated it as a show, a source of endless entertainment. [Media] [Abductees]
• KPA General Staff Blasts Japan's Ruckus after DPRK's Satellite Launch
  Pyongyang, April 8 (KCNA) -- The General Staff of the Korean People's Army released a report Wednesday. The report said: At a time when not only all the Korean people but the world rejoice over and hail the DPRK's successful launch of satellite for peaceful purposes only the Japanese reactionaries are kicking up a ruckus, conducting an operation to search for parts of the carrier rocket body that dropped in sea waters after being separated from it right after its launch. The dependable scientists and technicians of the DPRK succeeded in accurately putting satellite Kwangmyongsong-2 into its orbit by carrier rocket Unha-2 according to the state plan for the development of outer space. This was a shining victory in the political, diplomatic and national defence fields of the great Workers' Party of Korea and a great event of significance in the nation's history which proved before the world that the sovereign dignity of Songun Korea is truth and that truth is sure to triumph. [Satellite]
• Japan Could Boost Defense Over N.Korea Launch
  Japan will massively increase its military spending after North Korea's abortive satellite launch Sunday. Much as the North's launch of a Taepodong-1 missile in 1998 gave Tokyo justification to build up its missile defense system, so Sunday's rocket launch is likely to cause Japan to boost its missile defense and reinforce its military. [Japanese remilitarisation] [Threat]
• Rocket Launch Is Likely to Renew Japan's Military Debate
  By JOHN MURPHY and YUMIKO ONO TOKYO -- North Korea's rocket sailed harmlessly over Japan on Sunday morning, but a significant fallout from Pyongyang's display of technological prowess is how it may affect this pacifist nation's military stance. Clearly shaken by the launch of the rocket, which North Korea called a satellite but many outside suspect was a missile, Tokyo swiftly called it a "serious act of provocation" and made an urgent call for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council. Within Japan, the threat posed by North Korea's technology is likely to spark fresh debate about whether Japan should increase its military capabilities, revise its pacifist constitution and rely less on the U.S. for protection. [Threat] [Japanese remilitarisation]
• Two false alarms leave Japan egg-faced
  Sunday, April 5, 2009 By JUN HONGO Staff writer North Korea may have spent Saturday toying with a jumpy Japan over its plan to send a rocket over the Tohoku region, but it managed to cause a meteoric embarrassment to Tokyo — twice — without ever pushing the launch button. In two false alarms hours apart that Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada called "inexcusable," the Self Defense Forces wrongfully alerted the public that North Korea had launched a rocket from the Musudan-ri launchpad. The ministry retracted both announcements, blaming them on computer glitches and communications blunders. The latter one went nationwide. "We apologize for the confusion caused by the false alarms," Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada told reporters Saturday. He also revealed that Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura told the ministry to be more careful in handling information. According to the Defense Ministry, the first false alarm was sent from the Ground Self-Defense Force command to hundreds of GSDF terminals because of a computer error, including one involving a liaison officer in Akita Prefecture at 10:48 a.m. The officer then relayed the alarm to the prefectural government, which issued an alert to all the municipalities of in Akita, only to retract it 20 minutes later. Then the Air Defense Command at 12:16 p.m. received notification from a radar installation in Chiba Prefecture that mistakenly interpreted unrelated signals as a North Korean rocket launch. The ADC passed on the information to the Central Command Center. Separately, the ADC also mistakenly thought the U.S. Shared Early Warning missile-firing signal had gone off, prompting the government to release a nationwide alert. As a result, at least 33 municipalities actually issued a warning to residents through such means as wireless disaster networks. All the alerts were soon retracted, officials said.
• Verdict eludes Yokohama Incident retrial
  Tuesday, March 31, 2009 YOKOHAMA (Kyodo) The Yokohama District Court dismissed on Monday a retrial for a deceased journalist who was convicted in 1945 in the Yokohama Incident, considered Japan's worst case of wartime repression of free speech. No consolation: A supporter for a man and woman seeking to overturn the conviction of their father in the 1945 Yokohama Incident holds up a sign Monday outside the court saying the retrial was dismissed. KYODO PHOTO The court passed no judgment on whether Yasuhito Ono was guilty of promoting communism in violation of a wartime law aimed at cracking down on communists, antiwar activists and subversive activities in the name of preserving law and order. The decision comes 64 years after Ono, an editorial staff member of Kaizo (Reform) magazine, was convicted in September (sic) 1945 of breaking the Peace Preservation Law

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MARCH 2009

• Refugees, Abductees, “Returnees”: Human Rights in Japan-North Korea Relations
  Tessa Morris-Suzuki
  From North Korea to Japan At 4 o’clock in the morning on 2 June 2007, a man out fishing near the port of Fukaura in Japan’s Aomori Prefecture came upon a small boat with four people in it. The boat had left the North Korean port of Cheongjin one week earlier, and the people on board – a couple and their two adult sons – were North Korean refugees. [1] They were the first to appear on Japan’s shores by boat since 1987, when eleven refugees from North Korea had arrived in Fukui on a boat called the Zu Dan 9082. The events in the sleepy little town of Fukaura briefly became headline news in Japan, igniting media debate about a possible impending influx of displaced people from the Korean Peninsula, and about the appropriate Japanese response to the North Korean refugee problem.
• Kyoto Net for Japan-DPRK Friendship Formed
  Pyongyang, March 29 (KCNA) -- The Kyoto net for Japan-DPRK friendship promoting cultural, academic and citizen interchange was inaugurated with due ceremony in Kyoto of Japan on March 25. Attending the ceremony were representatives of cultural, religious and academic organizations and other personages in Kyoto Prefecture who are working for promoting friendship and establishing diplomatic relations between the DPRK and Japan. Present on invitation were Nam Sung U, vice-chairman of the Central Standing Committee of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon), and other officials of Chongryon. At the ceremony the achievements and experience gained in the work for friendship between the two countries and early establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations were introduced and the purpose for inauguration of the net and its action program and rules were discussed. Kosho Mizutani, managing director of Buddhist College and chairman of the Executive Committee for Japan-DPRK Friendship Cultural Festival, was elected head of the net.
• Japan’s Nuclear Policy Future: Policy Debate, Prospects, and U.S. Interests
  Japan, traditionally one of the most prominent advocates of the international non-proliferation regime, has consistently pledged to forswear nuclear weapons. Nevertheless, evolving circumstances in Northeast Asia, particularly North Korea’s nuclear test in October 2006 and China’s ongoing military modernization drive, have raised new questions about Japan’s vulnerability to potential adversaries and, therefore, the appeal of developing an independent nuclear deterrent. The previous taboo within the Japanese political community of discussing a nuclear weapons capability appears to have been broken, as several officials and opinion leaders have urged an open debate on the topic. Despite these factors, a strong consensus—both in Japan and among Japan watchers—remains that Japan will not pursue the nuclear option in the short-tomedium term.
  There are several legal factors that could restrict Japan’s ability to develop nuclear weapons. The most prominent is Article 9 of the Japanese constitution, drafted by American officials during the post-war occupation, that outlaws war as a “sovereign right” of Japan and prohibits “the right of belligerency.” However, Japan maintains a well-funded and well-equipped military for selfdefense purposes, and the current interpretation of the constitution would allow, in theory, the development of nuclear weapons for defensive purposes. [Japanese remilitarisation] [Nuclearisation] [Spin]
• Prison where Ahn was killed to open
  Apartments are built on possible site of the freedom fighter’s grave March 26, 2009 The Luishun prison building will open to the public in June after being refurbished. In the historic site, Ahn Jung-geun, a Korean independence fighter during the early period of Japanese colonial rule, was executed on March 26, 1910. By Chang Se-jeong DALIAN, China - Though today marks the 99th anniversary of the death of Ahn Jung-geun, who fought against Japanese colonial rule, the whereabouts of his remains remain veiled. But on the plus side, Luishun prison in the port city of Dalian, northeast China, where Ahn was executed on March 26, 1910 at age 31, will be open to foreigners around June, according to a Chinese official in the area. That means Korean tourists will be allowed to visit the historic spot soon. The white, Western-style structure that used to be the prison is now a museum. Until now the Chinese government has restricted admission of foreigners in the name of protecting military secrets due to the Chinese navy’s presence nearby. The prison was built by Russia in 1902. Japan, after winning the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, expanded the prison so that it could hold up to 2,000 prisoners. [Japanese colonialism]
• Japanese Premier's Low Ratings Offer Opening
  Opposition Party Could Win Election, but Scandal May Hurt Its Veteran Leader By Blaine Harden Washington Post Foreign Service Wednesday, March 25, 2009; Page A11 TOKYO, March 24 -- Corruption is rivaling incompetence as the primary scourge of Japanese politics, as polls show that voters regard their political leaders with a level of dissatisfaction that borders on contempt. The popularity of Prime Minister Taro Aso has collapsed over the past six months because of his government's halting and incoherent response to a global recession that continues to punish the world's second-largest economy. Polls show that nine out of 10 voters disapprove of Aso.
• Japan 'Could Become Key Seoul Ally in N.Korea Issues'
  A senior South Korean government official recently remarked that if the U.S. and North Korea speed up too much in bilateral talks, Japan could play a role in "slamming on the brakes." He appeared to be suggesting that any bilateral negotiations bringing Washington and Pyongyang together after the North has launched a rocket next month could proceed too fast in the direction of normal diplomatic ties for the comfort of South Korea.
• Japanese exports plunge by half
  By Michiyo Nakamoto in Tokyo Published: March 25 2009 03:15 | Last updated: March 25 2009 06:02 Japan suffered another record drop in exports last month while imports also fell much more than expected, highlighting the damaging impact of the global downturn on the world’s second largest economy. Exports nearly halved in February, falling 49.4 per cent from a year earlier, as demand for Japanese goods plunged in key markets. The decline in exports was the steepest since 1957 and worse than most economists had anticipated. However, imports also fell much more than expected, dropping 43 per cent amid declining corporate earnings and rising unemployment. As a result of the sharp fall in imports, Japan posted a trade surplus in February for the first time in five months.
• Japan commissions largest helicopter carrier
  www.chinaview.cn 2009-03-18 20:22:15 TOKYO, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) commissioned its largest helicopter-carrying destroyer with resemblance to a light aircraft carrier on Wednesday amid international concerns. Japan's largest "helicopter carrier" the Huga anchors off Yokohama, a port city of Japan, March 18, 2009. Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) commissioned the warship on Wednesday, marking the largest "helicopter carrier" with a length of 197 meters in service officially. (Xinhua/Sun Wei) Japan's largest "helicopter carrier" the Huga anchors off Yokohama, a port city of Japan, March 18, 2009. Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) commissioned the warship on Wednesday, marking the largest "helicopter carrier" with a length of 197 meters in service officially. (Xinhua/Sun Wei) Photo Gallery>>> The 197-meter long, 13,950-ton Hyuga, which can carry 11 helicopters on its flat deck, will be stationed in Yokosuka port, near Tokyo, and is expected to be sent on overseas missions such as disaster relief, according to the Defense Ministry. The Hyuga has 340 crew, including 17 women officers and sailors on board, the first time since the Self-Defense Forces' was established in 1954. Servicemen of Japan Maritime Self-Difence Force (JMSDF) step on the largest "helicopter carrier" of Japan the Huga in Yokohama, a port city of Japan, March 18, 2009. Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force commissioned the warship on Wednesday, marking the largest "helicopter carrier" with a length of 197 meters in service officially. (Xinhua/Sun Wei) Servicemen of Japan Maritime Self-Difence Force (JMSDF) step on the largest "helicopter carrier" of Japan the Huga in Yokohama, a port city of Japan, March 18, 2009. Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force commissioned the warship on Wednesday, marking the largest "helicopter carrier" with a length of 197 meters in service officially. (Xinhua/Sun Wei) Photo Gallery>>> Under Japan's post-war pacifist constitution, it renounced using or threatening force in international disputes. However, the Japanese Self-Defence Forces (SDF) is one of the best funded armies in the world. The carrier raises concern in the region [Japanese remilitarisation]
• Korean Rice Wine Wins Fans in Japan
  FOODEX Japan is one of the world's three major food trade shows. Exhibitors have gathered for the show from 65 different countries to show off their culinary products. Among the delicacies, the makgeolli booth at the Korea pavilion attracted many passersby. E-dong makgeolli entered the Japanese market a decade ago and recently doubled sales by running a TV ad and increased public recognition of the Korean rice wine. Last year, exports of alcoholic beverages to Japan reached a total of US$150 million. Makgeolli and other beverages made from fermented grains account for $33 million. That is a 4.4 percent increase from the previous year. Korean makgeolli brewers are coming up with new inventions to satisfy the taste buds of the Japanese market. [Wine]
• Japan to Go Nuclear If Unified Korea Is Nuke-Armed
  Japan will likely go nuclear if a unified Korea decides to keep the nuclear arsenal developed by North Korea, setting the stage for a tense military competition between the two Northeast Asian rivals, Yonhap News Agency reported Monday, quoting a U.S. congressional report. "Any eventual reunification of the Korean Peninsula could further induce Japan to reconsider its nuclear stance," the report by the Congressional Research Service was quoted as saying. "If the two Koreas unify while North Korea still holds nuclear weapons and the new state opts to keep a nuclear arsenal, Japan may face a different calculation," said the Jan. 19 report, titled "Japan's Nuclear Future: Policy Debate, Prospects and U.S. Interests." It cites some Japanese analysts as describing a nuclear-armed unified Korea as "more of a threat than a nuclear-armed North Korea." [Japanese remilitarisation] [Nuclearisation]
• Neglected tragedy of modern history
  Kim Hyo-sun, Senior reporter A bitter event is taking place late this month. At the National Assembly Library of Korea in Seoul’s Yeouido, a gathering is being held Friday afternoon to mark the 60th anniversary of the repatriation of detainees taken to Siberia, and on the following day a memorial service for the victims is to be held at the 38th parallel memorial tower in Jeongok, Yeoncheon-gun in Gyeonggi Province. The event is being held by the Siberia Sakpunghoe (the Association of Siberian North Wind), the members of whom are elderly individuals in their mid to late 80s. Who are the protagonists of this unfamiliar event, held amid the world’s apathy? They are people who were forced into the Japanese army as student volunteers, drafted or otherwise compelled, from colonial Korea in the later stages of the Pacific War. When the Japanese empire met with defeat, they were not returned home directly but were dragged off to what was then the Soviet Union. In places like Siberia, they endured bitter cold, starvation and forced labor, only returning to their native soil after completing two to four years of life as detainees. [Japanese colonialism]
• Taro Aso: the millionaire slumdog
  Noriko Hama
  A desperate economic constellation magnifies the embarrassing flaws of Japan's prime minister Taro Aso, says Noriko Hama. 10 - 03 - 2009 Taro Aso, the current but perhaps not for much longer prime minister of Japan, is a man of many vices. He is rude. He is crude. He is spoilt. He is embarrassing. All these things are really quite intolerable. Yet they are not that particularly unusual in Japanese prime ministers. What is really unacceptable about this person is his arrogance. His predecessor-but-one, Shinzo Abe, was also a very arrogant man. But his arrogance was of the "let them eat cake" variety, whereas Taro Aso's version is much more of the "let them eat dirt" kind. There was even a certain innocence to Abe's condescension, which pales against Aso's brutal insensitivity. Aso is a playground bully who has earned his position through affluence rather than influence. Or so he apparently thinks. There is little doubt that the prime minister actually is a very rich man. Mind you, it is all inherited.
• Aso's kanji conundrums spur self-reflection, textbook sales
  By MARI YAMAGUCHI The Associated Press Reading Japanese isn't easy — even for Japanese. News photo On the spot: Prime Minister Taro Aso fields questions from reporters on Dec. 26 at the Prime Minister's Official Residence. KYODO PHOTO Take Prime Minister Taro Aso. He's made so many public blunders that an opposition lawmaker tried to give him a reading test during a televised session of the Diet. The leader bungled the word for "frequent," calling Japan-China exchanges "cumbersome" instead. Another time, he misread the word "toshu" (follow), saying "fushu" — or stench — and sounded as if he were saying government policy "stinks." While the media and Aso's political rivals have been quick to heap ridicule, many Japanese have seen a bit more of themselves in Aso's goofs than they would like to admit. Since his missteps, books designed to improve reading ability have become all the rage.
• Reinforcing American Extended Deterrence for Japan: An Essential Step for Nuclear Disarmament
  By Yukio Satoh March 5^th , 2009 Yukio Satoh, Former President of the Japan Institute of International Affairs and Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations from October 1998 till August 2002, writes, “The time has come for the governments of Japan and the United States to articulate better the shared concept of extended deterrence, nuclear or otherwise, in order to assure the Japanese that deterrence will continue to function under changing strategic circumstances and with technological developments.”
  Although BMD systems need to be much improved before they can be considered reliable, they are designed to eventually function, at least conceptually, as a supplementary means for defending the country against North Korea's missiles if and when deterrence were to fail. In addition, their purely defensive characteristics are stabilizing, rather than destabilizing, regional strategic balance.(sic) [Threat] [Missile defense] [Japanese remilitarisation]
• New images of independence.
  YONGJEONG -- Kim Jae-hong, 60, a historian, released this and other photos of Korea’s independence movement on March 3 in honor of the March First Movement of 1919 against Japan’s colonization of Korea. This photo depicts approximately 30,000 Koreans gathered at the Haeran River near the village of Yongjeong, China, on March 13, 1919, their cries of “Dongnip Manse!” (“Long live independence!”) ringing into the air. Japanese military police shot into the crowd, killing 17 people and wounding approximately 30 others. [Japanese colonialism]
• Scandal Threatens Opposition in Japan
  By MARTIN FACKLER Published: March 4, 2009 TOKYO — A growing scandal over campaign donations is threatening the Japanese opposition leader, Ichiro Ozawa, just as his party appears poised to unseat the long-governing Liberal Democratic Party. On Wednesday, Mr. Ozawa, who leads the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, rejected calls for his resignation, a day after an aide was arrested on charges of taking illegal donations from a construction company. The arrest threw Mr. Ozawa’s party into turmoil, with some members angrily denouncing the investigation by prosecutors as politically motivated.
• Japan Warns It Will Intercept N.Korean Projectile
  The Japanese government could deploy two arsenal ships equipped with the latest Aegis radar system and interceptor Standard Missile in the East Sea if North Korea continues to prepare for a missile test, the Kyodo news agency reported Tuesday citing a senior official at the Japanese Ministry of Defense. But Kyodo added if a North Korean missile targets the United States, it will be difficult for Japan's SM-3 to intercept it. Tokyo warned North Korea it would intercept not only missiles but also a satellite launched by the communist country. The Sankei Shimbun quoted Japanese Minister of Defense Yasukazu Hamada as saying, "It is natural to react to even a satellite if it can cause serious damage when it falls down to Japan." [Legality]
• Japan warns North Korea on satellite launch
  by Toru Higashioka, The Asahi Shimbun 2009/3/2 BEIJING--Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone said Sunday that even a satellite launch by North Korea would constitute a violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution. Nakasone made the comment after a meeting with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. Nakasone's statement was the first time the Japanese government has gone on record in equating a launch by North Korea of a satellite as a violation of Security Council resolution 1718 passed in 2006 that called on Pyongyang to stop its ballistic missile program. Japan's position follows similar stances recently made public by the United States and South Korea. [Legality] [UNUS]
• Japan’s politicians lose their way at a bad time
  Guest Author: Gerald Curtis February 18th, 2009
  Not only is Japan’s economy contracting at least twice as fast as its peers, with data on Monday showing the worst quarterly performance for a third of a century, but Japanese politics also seem about to implode. The standing of Taro Aso, prime minister, in the opinion polls is in free fall. His statement last week that he had opposed privatising the country’s huge postal savings system when he served in the government of Junichiro Koizumi – a comment that, like so many others he has made, he subsequently backed away from – appeared to be more than his predecessor but two could take.nn20090101f1a Declaring that he was too flabbergasted by Mr Aso’s ineptitude even to be angered, Mr Koizumi all but said the current leader should resign or the Liberal Democratic party should get rid of him. The LDP could not fight a general election, Mr Koizumi made clear, with Mr Aso at the helm.
• Hillary in Japan – The Enforcer
  Gavan McCormack
  Crumbling Kingdom Debilitated by nearly 20 years of rising debt levels, stagnation, mismanagement and lack of direction, Japan faces an economic crisis of almost unprecedented severity. Considerably worse than the US (and worst in the post-war period, according to Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister Yosano Kaoru), it is matched by a no less severe political crisis. Even before Finance Minister, Nakagawa Shoichi, gave the incoherent, alcohol-driven performance at the Rome G7 Finance Ministers’ meeting that cost him his job, the Aso government’s support level in the polls was down to 14 per cent [1]. Since then it has obviously fallen further, by some accounts already to around the nine percent record low of Prime Minister Mori Yoshiro in 2001.

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FEBRUARY 2009

• Japan’s Ruling Party Faces Political Extinction
  By MARTIN FACKLER Published: February 19, 2009 TOKYO — Mounting troubles threaten the brief administration of Japan’s unpopular prime minister, Taro Aso. The bigger question is whether time could also be running out for his Liberal Democratic Party and its half-century monopoly on political power in Japan. Prime Minister Taro Aso, center, with party members Sunday. This week, some members began calling on him to step aside. Mr. Aso’s frequent verbal gaffes have offended just about everyone from doctors to kindergarten mothers. A prominent lawmaker has defected from his party, and a former prime minister publicly rebuked him. Even his plan to bolster economic growth by giving away at least $130 in cash per person has been panned by the public as a cynical vote-winning gesture. If the party loses in elections this year, it could mean a drastic redrawing of Japan’s political lines, as Liberal Democratic lawmakers defect to create new parties or join the opposition, which has historically been weak and divided. It also raises the possibility of a radical rethinking of Japan’s increasingly ineffectual and dysfunctional politics, which have failed to produce the big changes needed to lift a nation that has slipped into slow stagnation. Political analysts and lawmakers say a defeat could even spell the end of the Liberal Democratic Party, which has appeared outdated with no ideology to bind it together beyond a desire to hold onto power.
• Japanese Trading Firm Raided Over N Korea Link - Reports
  TOKYO (AFP)--Japanese police Thursday raided a Tokyo trading company suspected of attempting to export to North Korea equipment that can be used to make missiles, reports said. Public broadcaster NHK said the company, Toko Boeki, was suspected of trying to send the magnetic measuring instruments, which could be used to make missiles, to North Korea via a third country. The trading house is reportedly linked to the North Korean residents' association in Japan, Chongryon. Police declined to confirm the reports. [Sanctions] [Spin]
• Koreans 'Ate Chilies before Japanese Invasion'
  A recent study claims that Koreans ate chili peppers before the 16th century Japanese invasion, potentially putting paid to the hypothesis that the country has Japan to thank for an essential ingredient in its spicy cuisine. Dr. Kwon Dae-young of the Korea Food Research Institute and Chung Kyung-ran, a senior researcher at the Academy of Korean Studies, on Wednesday said they unearthed several documents dating back to the early years of the Chosun Dynasty showing that Koreans ate chili peppers and made gochujang (hot pepper paste) much earlier than the Japanese invasion in the 16th century. The prevailing theory has it that after Columbus brought "aji," a variety of hot pepper, from Central America to Europe, it was later introduced to China and India.
• Japan’s Twenty Year Response to Economic Crisis
  Andrew DeWit and Tobias Harris We have some good news, and we have some bad news. First the good news. A little common sense is breaking out both within and about Japan. Within Japan, an election seems almost certain for the month of May. Comfy in his captain's chair, Prime Minister Aso is at present testing his 19% level of public support and -- with helpful advice from Mr. "structural reform" Takenaka Heizo -- is hoping to ride out the storm and his legal tenure. Japanese constitutional law requires that an election be called by September, and both Aso and Takenaka apparently believe that by then there will be some kind of recovery of the economy both globally and within Japan. They also seem to be betting that Aso’s YEN 2 trillion cash payout to residents (about YEN 12,000 per taxpayer) will boost support, even though upwards of 70 percent of poll respondents apparently see it as wasteful (which it is). Aso’s wishful thinking is not shared by the LDP elders. They are, therefore, pressing him to call an election shortly after the budget is passed by the Diet. They understand that, following a 35% drop in exports in December (year on year), a 2009 recovery is unlikely. And they show signs of grasping that the current crisis is almost certain to be far worse come September.
• Clinton's visit to Japan
  Japan must receive attention it deserves Steve Clemons / Special to The Daily Yomiuri
  WASHINGTON--When Shintaro Ishihara and Akio Morita urged renegotiation of the terms of the Japan-U.S. relationship in their provocative 1991 best-seller, "The Japan That Can Say No," few expected that the then less acquiescent Japan would soon disappear in the minds of many as a recognized major geopolitical force. There was a time when U.S. secretaries of state, senators and even presidents would not make a move without considering what impact it might have on Japan's purchases of U.S. Treasury bonds and whether it would hurt "the relationship." In fact, Mike Mansfield's old aphorism that "the U.S.-Japan relationship is the world's most important bilateral relationship, bar none" seems more a joke today than something anyone actually used to believe. [US Japan alliance]
• Japan’s economy shrinks 3.3%
  By Mure Dickie in Tokyo Published: February 16 2009 01:17 | Last updated: February 16 2009 04:39 Japan’s economy contracted 3.3 per cent in the three months to December compared with the previous quarter as a slowdown in exports led to the worst performance in 35 years. On an annualised basis, gross domestic product declined at a rate of 12.7 per cent, underlining the depth and severity of a slump that has dispelled early hopes that the world’s second largest economy might be able to shrug off the effects of the global financial crisis. The contraction was three times as bad as that of the US in the same quarter.
• Japan’s Economy Plunges at Fastest Pace Since ’74
  By HIROKO TABUCHI Published: February 15, 2009 TOKYO — Japan’s economy, the world’s second largest, is deteriorating at its worst pace since the oil crisis of the 1970s, hurt by shrinking exports and anemic spending at home. The country’s real gross domestic product shrank at an annual rate of 12.7 percent from October to December after contracting for two previous quarters, the government said Monday. When compared with the third quarter of 2008, Japan’s economy receded 3.3 percent. The fourth-quarter results were Japan’s worst quarterly drop since its economy contracted at an annual pace of 13.1 percent in the first three months of 1974. Japan’s export-driven economy is particularly vulnerable to the current downturn. “There’s no question that this is the worst recession in the postwar period,” Japan’s economic minister, Kaoru Yosano, said after the results were released. The dismal figures also place Japan firmly among the worst-hit in the global crisis, dwarfing economic declines in the United States and Europe.
• KAL Bomber to Meet Japanese Abduction Victim's Family
  The surviving bomber of Korean Air flight 858 could meet the family of Yaeko Taguchi, a Japanese abduction victim who according to Kim taught her Japanese in North Korea. After meeting with his Japanese counterpart Hirofumi Nakasone, Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan on Wednesday told reporters Kim recently expressed her willingness to meet Ms. Taguchi's family, who also hope to see her, "and I understand that they will meet soon." South Korean and Japanese authorities are apparently arranging their meeting here this month. [KAL858]
• Contrary Japanese Historian Becomes SNU Professor
  Kazuhiko Kimijima Seoul National University has appointed Kazuhiko Kimijima, now teaching modern East Asian history at Tokyo Gakugei University, as a professor of history education. Kimijima is well known here for his conviction that the Dokdo Islets belong to Korea, not Japan. When the Japanese Education Ministry in July last year published teachers' guidelines that insisted on Japanese territorial rights over Dokdo, Kimijima in the Asahi Shimbun called for their revision. And in 2007, when then-Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe claimed there was no evidence that the Imperial Army conscripted women into sexual slavery during World War II, Kimijima said it was an established fact that the military itself rounded up the "comfort women" and said trying to dodge the responsibility was wrong.
• Seoul, Tokyo Urge NK to Stop Raising Tension
  South Korea's Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan, left, and his Japanese counterpart Hirofumi Nakasone shake hands prior to their talks at the ministry headquarters in central Seoul Wednesday. / Korea Times South Korea and Japan agreed Wednesday on a concrete plan for the joint support of Afghanistan while urging their neighbor North Korea to stop stoking regional tension, according to Yonhap News Wednesday.
• In Japan, New Jobless May Lack Safety Net
  By MARTIN FACKLER Published: February 7, 2009 OITA, Japan — Koji Hirano said his “mind went blank” with disbelief when he and other workers at a Canon digital camera factory in this southern city were suddenly called into a cafeteria in late October and told they were being laid off. The shock turned to fear when they were also ordered to vacate their employer-provided apartments, a common job benefit here. With no savings from his monthly take-home pay of as little as $700, he said, he faced certain homelessness. “They were going to kick us out into the winter cold to die,” said Mr. Hirano, 47. The current economic crisis has spread joblessness and distress across the world, and Japan has been no exception — with output plunging at historic rates, the unemployment rate leapt to 4.4 percent in December from 3.9 percent the month before. But what has proved more shocking has been the fact that so many of those laid off have been so vulnerable, with hundreds and perhaps thousands finding themselves cast into the streets. Mr. Hirano and the others laid off by Canon are part of a new subclass of Japanese workers created during a decade of American-style deregulation.
  As never before, the global downturn has driven home how a decade of economic transformation has eroded Japan’s gentler version of capitalism, in which companies once laid off employees only as a last resort.
  According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Japan spends about 0.3 percent of its gross domestic product on unemployment benefits, far below Western European countries and about the same as the United States, which tolerates far more social dislocation and poverty than Japan
  “We did our best, so Canon should have taken care of us,” said one 32-year-old laid-off worker who was so ashamed of his situation that he asked that only his family name, Murakami, be used. “That is the Japanese way. But this isn’t Japan anymore.” [Labour] [human rights] [Globalisation]
• Aso May Visit War Shrine
  By Michael Ha Staff Reporter Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso said Monday that whether he visits the controversial Yasukuni war shrine or not in the future would ``depend on individual circumstances,'' according to Yonhap News Agency. Aso made the comment on the possibility of visiting the war shrine during a meeting for the upper house of parliament in Tokyo.
  Political observers say Aso's toughened approach and his apparent willingness to at least seriously consider visiting the controversial shrine may be a political ploy. Currently, his approval ratings are below 20 percent, representing a steady decline since taking office last September. Some news reports speculate that Aso may decide to pay reverence at the shrine as a political gesture and to consolidate support from conservative and right-wing, nationalist groups ahead of the parliamentary election this year. [Yasukuni]
• Japan on the Brink of the Abyss?
  Andrew DeWit [Updated] The economic outlook in Japan is very grim, as these brief overviews (links below) indicate. Right now, Japan has the worst growth outlook in Asia. That is a surprising fact, if one recalls that this is a country presumably dusting itself off from the collapse of its own bubble nearly two decades ago. After such a long period of economic crisis, Japan should be renovated and ready to thrive. But instead, it may be in worse shape than even the US (though clearly not Iceland and much of Eastern Europe).
• 120,000 Koreans Drafted to Japan during Colonial Rule
  Some 120,000 Koreans have been confirmed drafted by force to Japan during Japan's colonial rule of the Korean peninsula. The Truth Commission on Forced Mobilization under the Japanese Imperialism went over a list handed in by the National Archives of Korea of people who were forced to serve in various capacities under Japan from 1910 to 1945. The list was compiled by the Korean government in 1957 to discuss diplomatic relations with Japan and contains the names of nearly 290,000 Korean draftees during Japan's colonial rule. As for the remaining 170,000, the commission stressed this does not mean they were not forced laborers but that it was no longer possible to prove it. [Japanese colonialism]
• Spy could shed light on fate of abducted Japanese
  January 30, 2009 The Japanese government has asked the Blue House to facilitate a meeting between a former North Korean spy and the family of an abducted Japanese national who taught the spy Japanese. Kim Hyun-hee, who was sentenced to death for her role in the 1987 bombing of Korean Air flight 858, which killed all 115 passengers on board, mostly South Koreans, has expressed a wish to meet the family of Yaeko Taguchi, a Japanese woman allegedly kidnapped by the North in 1978. Kim claims that Taguchi is still alive, but Pyongyang said the kidnapped woman died in a car accident in 1986. [KAL858]

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JANUARY 2009

• Japan: The Price of Normalcy
  John Feffer
  In the early 1990s, the Japanese military adopted a cute mascot by the name of Prince Pickles. He’s a little guy with a big head and big eyes who lives in a tranquil country bordering on some pretty dangerous territory. In three action-packed comic books aimed at young people, Prince Pickles overcomes his naïve belief that a land at peace needs no army. He enlists in his own country’s forces to defend against the predations of the neighboring Evil Empire. He endures intensive training. He helps with disaster relief. He goes on peacekeeping missions. And of course, after these mini-heroic efforts, Prince Pickles gets the girl, his comrade-in-arms Miss Parsley. The transformation of Prince Pickles is meant to represent the recent history of Japan writ small. In her groundbreaking new book Uneasy Warriors, Sabine Fruhstuck describes Prince Pickles’s transformation as a coded message from the state to its citizens that “knowledge and appreciation of the military can be or should become a normative element of growing up. “Only a state with a military is normal and mature, and only a man with military experience is a real man.”[1]
  But almost as soon as it engineered this new, pacifistic Japan, the United States reversed course. With the Cold War escalating and the U.S. in need of a regional ally, America encouraged Japan to rearm. Many of the ultranationalists and former military officers that had been under a cloud after World War II were back in business by the time of the Korean War, a boom time for Japanese rearmament. Weapons sales, largely to the U.S. army, went from 7 million yen in 1952 to 15 billion yen two years later, and it was the Korean War that jump-started Japan’s devastated economy.[4]
  The Japanese government adopted non-nuclear principles, but through its advanced nuclear power program it has developed a huge plutonium stockpile and the capacity to produce nuclear weapons quickly. [Japanese remilitarisation] [Threat] [Nuclearisation]
• Okinawa’s Turbulent 400 Years
  Gavan McCormack [Japanese text available here] This three part New Year essay was commissioned by the Okinawan daily Ryukyu shimpo and published on January 6, 7, and 8, 2009, under the title “Satsuma shinko 400 nen – “Gekijo” kokka to shite no Okinawa,” (400 Years since the Satsuma Invasion: Okinawa as ‘Theatre’ state”). For Japanese text, carried here with permission from Ryukyu shimpo, see the headings of each section. 2009 is an especially important date in Okinawan history. It marks the 400th anniversary of the invasion and conquest of the islands in 1609 by 3,000 musket-bearing samurai from the mainland Japanese domain of Satsuma. Till then, as the Ryukyu kingdom, the islands had been an autonomous part of the East Asian “tribute” world centring on Ming China. After the invasion, the appearance of independence continued but henceforth in fact the Ryukyu kings were subject to Satsuma, and to the Edo Japanese state. [Japanese remilitarisation]
• Japan must stand tall
  The U.S. position on the abduction issue is emerging as a symbol of the Japanese psyche in forming perceptions as to whether the United States will “abandon” its ally Japan. In October 2007, Schieffer personally sent a special cable to Bush cautioning him about possible damage to Japan-U.S. relations from a delisting by the U.S. government of North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism. A year after that cable, the U.S. government went ahead and delisted Pyongyang. [US Japan alliance] [Abductees]
• Aso Revelations on Wartime POW Labor Highlight the Need for a Real National Archive in Japan
  [Japanese government official documents and translations appended] Lawrence Repeta Prime Minister Aso Taro’s admission that his family company employed prisoner-of-war labor during the final months of World War II may one day be seen as a milestone in Japan’s struggle to contend with its own national history. In response to persistent questioning by an opposition lawmaker on the floor of the national parliament on January 6, Aso acknowledged the truth of recent disclosures of POW work at the Aso Mining Company in 1945.[1] [Japanese colonialism]
• Waterboarding: The Meaning for Japan
  Kinue Tokudome "If you look at the history of the use of that technique used by the Khmer Rouge, used in the inquisition, used by the Japanese and prosecuted by us as war crimes, we prosecuted our own soldiers in Vietnam, I agree with you, Mr. Chairman, waterboarding is torture." [1] The above statement made by Eric Holder during his confirmation hearing for Attorney General marked a clean break from the policy of the Bush administration on “waterboarding,” [2] the interrogation technique used by the CIA on at least three Al-Qaida suspects, and on the general issue of the use of torture in US interrogation. If the Japanese people were surprised to see their country grouped together with the Khmer Rouge, medieval torturers who brutally persecuted heretics, and US soldiers during the Vietnam War, some of whom were court-martialed, [3] they should not have been. [Japanese colonialism]
• Somali Pirates and Political Winds Drive Japan to the Gate of Tears
  Michael Penn In late October 2007 an odd story appeared in the press. A Japanese-owned chemical tanker called the Golden Nori was hijacked off the coast of Somalia. There were no Japanese nationals on board, but the East Asian nation had become entangled, quite unusually, in an East African affair. Unforeseen at that time was that this curious incident would eventually become one of the top foreign policy issues in Tokyo: Somali piracy has emerged as a potential turning point for Article Nine of the Japanese Constitution, and is significant for other reasons as well. The following essay reviews the record of Japanese encounters with Somali pirates and explores the motives and political pressures driving the Maritime Self-Defense Forces (MSDF) toward a proactive role in suppressing East African piracy. [Japanese remilitarisation]
• Memories of the Dutch East Indies: From Plantation Society to Prisoner of Japan
  Elizabeth Van Kampen
  Introduction In 1928, at the age of one and a half years, Elizabeth van Kampen, daughter of a Dutch plantation manager, arrived with her parents in the former Dutch East Indies (today’s Indonesia), a land which she evokes from childhood memory as “paradise on earth.” But the attack on Pearl Harbor of December 7, 1941, when she was fourteen, was quickly followed by Japanese invasion of the Dutch colony and the nightmare to follow. Elizabeth and her family experienced extraordinary times between two empires, that of Holland in Asia at the end of a 400-year epoch, and that of a rising militarist Japan. For the young girl, it was a passage from heaven to hell, but an experience that she faced with the resilience of a spirited youth. With Japan’s capitulation in August 1945, Elizabeth was finally released following a three year incarceration in a prison-gulag from which her beloved father would not return alive. The abrupt surrender of the Japanese Imperial Army all across occupied Southeast Asia created a power vacuum and hiatus for aspiring Asian nationalists from Vietnam, to Malaya, to Indonesia, even before the return of colonial armies. As witnessed by Elizabeth in the heady post-surrender days, Indonesian nationalists around Sukarno declared independence (August 17, 1945), somewhat incongruously in the Jakarta-house of a Japanese Admiral. Before the arrival of returning British and Dutch forces, Japanese units surrendered arms to the independence forces. In any case, Elizabeth witnessed Indonesian pemuda or pro-independence youth groups, with or without support of Japanese-armed heiho auxiliaries, taking the law into their own hands. In 2008, at 81 years of age, Elizabeth van Kampen offers a personal reflection on her youthful experiences spanning the years of privilege as a child growing up in Dutch colonial society, those of trauma in a Japanese prison, and the uncertainties of the early Indonesian revolution of 1945. [Japanese colonialism]

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