The Rise of Greater Japan: LDP treads carefully in drive for constitutional revision

[Aepsilons]

First off I am glad to see you have not chosen the easy road to simply ignore me, it raises my opinion of your character even if I disagree with your views, some of them more vehemently than others.

Thank you, i suppose we all cannot agree with every single issue of mutual interest, but ability to hear each other out is a sign of crystallized cognitive ability. If we can maintain this aspect, than we can keep a mature rapprochement platform where we can discuss objectively.

That article you posted does mention a desire to improve relations with all other countries in Asia as part of the LDP platform, though not part of the constitutional reform, but it sounds like boilerplate to me, something no one would disagree with and a general interest that anyone would have for their own country, but not something that will be pursued at the expense of all other interests.

Well that is the paradigm of Omnidirectionality of Japanese Foreign Policy. I don't know if you have read into Japanese Foreign Policy objectives prior to 1980, and present. I thought i should provide some data for you to read upon:

A tipping point for Japan’s foreign policy - FT.com

Japan, the Fukuda Doctrine, and ASEAN on JSTOR

https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/UNIS/article/viewFile/44792/42219

http://www.stimson.org/images/uploads/research-pdfs/burnspdf.pdf

Even more telling, the LDP has deep ties to the Nippon Kaigi, a right revisionist organization, and not pro-China by the sound of it given their support for visits to the Yasukuni shrine and their claims of exaggeration of the Nanking massacre.

The Nippon Kaigi is indeed a deeply patriotic organization for politicians, but to say that LDP parliamentarians and ministers are sole members of the organization is a bit biased, since the organization has over 35,000 members. The LDP is the largest political party hence it will have a considerable membership.

The group describes its aims as to "change the postwar national consciousness based on the Tokyo Tribunal's view of history as a fundamental problem" and to "revise the current Constitution." Norimitsu Onishi considers that the organization promotes a revival of the fundamentals of the Empire of Japan. The nationalist movement sees its mission to promote patriotic education, the revision of the Constitution of Japan

In the words of Hideaki Kase, an influential member of Nippon Kaigi, 'We are dedicated to our conservative cause. We are monarchists. We are for revising the constitution. We are for the Glory of the Nation."

While I think it is still wildly optimistic in my opinion that a change in the constitution would herald better relations with China, it is not out of the stadium to hold that opinion that that is what they are going for, though I do not see China being happy with any move that brings Japan closer to what it was before WW2 initially. It would dredge up bad memories and possibly worse.

This is where you and I come at an impasse through our fundamental differences, my friend. Where you see a barrier, i see an opportunity.

 

[TaiShang]

“It’s because Japan is a beginner at constitutional amendment,” Tanigaki reportedly told Mori.

This line tells a lot. No doubt it is proving to be a rocky process for the government as well as the entire political establishment since much seems to be at stake. Getting rid of a 70-year old straightjacket put on Japan by someone else must not be an easy one.

In line with other posters from China, I am also hoping that Japan will further the Constitutional amendement to the point of achieving full-independent status. I perceive the initial US enthusiasm has long died down; they were probably not anticipating more than a revision to Article 9 with the hope of embedding Japanese Army more firmly to that of the US. I guess, they also hoped to "cooperate" with Japan and give Japan a greater role in the alliance -- meaning that Japan would be standing shoulder to shoulder with the US as it wages wars or involves in clashes in farther parts of the world.

Now it appears this was not what Mr. Abe had in mind from the beginning, hence, the colder approach from the US. Japan resisted unilateral action in Iran; held a steady, more or less impartial line in Syria, and now shows interest to improve relations with Russia in defiance of the US-EU-driven sanctions and encircelement of the country. Also, with respect to DPRK recent military tests, Japan reacted quite differently form how it used to, even, in a way, pioneering a developmentalist approach to be quicly endorsed by China.

I guess @Nihonjin1051 said this before. I will repeat: The important foreign policy tasks for Japan to gain further sovereignty and lead further toward regional integration:

1. Speed up the CJK FTA process
2.Normalize and improve relations with Russia
3. Oppose military solution to the Korean crisis

I observe a positive trend.

 

[anon45]

Thank you, i suppose we all cannot agree with every single issue of mutual interest, but ability to hear each other out is a sign of crystallized cognitive ability. If we can maintain this aspect, than we can keep a mature rapprochement platform where we can discuss objectively.



Well that is the paradigm of Omnidirectionality of Japanese Foreign Policy. I don't know if you have read into Japanese Foreign Policy objectives prior to 1980, and present. I thought i should provide some data for you to read upon:

A tipping point for Japan’s foreign policy - FT.com

Japan, the Fukuda Doctrine, and ASEAN on JSTOR

https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/UNIS/article/viewFile/44792/42219

http://www.stimson.org/images/uploads/research-pdfs/burnspdf.pdf




The Nippon Kaigi is indeed a deeply patriotic organization for politicians, but to say that LDP parliamentarians and ministers are sole members of the organization is a bit biased, since the organization has over 35,000 members. The LDP is the largest political party hence it will have a considerable membership.

The group describes its aims as to "change the postwar national consciousness based on the Tokyo Tribunal's view of history as a fundamental problem" and to "revise the current Constitution." Norimitsu Onishi considers that the organization promotes a revival of the fundamentals of the Empire of Japan. The nationalist movement sees its mission to promote patriotic education, the revision of the Constitution of Japan

In the words of Hideaki Kase, an influential member of Nippon Kaigi, 'We are dedicated to our conservative cause. We are monarchists. We are for revising the constitution. We are for the Glory of the Nation."



This is where you and I come at an impasse through our fundamental differences, my friend. Where you see a barrier, i see an opportunity.

Fair enough, an impasse is an impasse and we will let the future decide. I have read both articles on the Fukuda doctrine in SE Asia but it will take a while to read through the entirety of the article by KG Burns though. I notice through all the pieces though the US is very strongly implicated as critical to Japan's national security, and instances are cited where the US has desired Japan to take a greater role in the region ( such as in the 1970's with the rise of communist governments in SE Asia).

Some people want to characterize the relationship as the US attempting to keep Japan down, but these instances and policy today sounds like the US has desired a more outward looking and robust Japan for quite a while, it makes sense considering Japan is a cornerstone of US Asia policy (and imo vice versa).


Was the document for KG Burns published in 2003? The data only goes up to 2002 and I notice it was cited in 2006.

 

[Aepsilons]

Fair enough, an impasse is an impasse and we will let the future decide. I have read both articles on the Fukuda doctrine in SE Asia but it will take a while to read through the entirety of the article by KG Burns though. I notice through all the pieces though the US is very strongly implicated as critical to Japan's national security, and instances are cited where the US has desired Japan to take a greater role in the region ( such as in the 1970's with the rise of communist governments in SE Asia).

Some people want to characterize the relationship as the US attempting to keep Japan down, but these instances and policy today sounds like the US has desired a more outward looking and robust Japan for quite a while, it makes sense considering Japan is a cornerstone of US Asia policy (and imo vice versa).


Was the document for KG Burns published in 2003? The data only goes up to 2002 and I notice it was cited in 2006.

@anon45 , an impasse need not necessarily mean we cannot engage in further fruitful dialogue. An impasse is an indication in differences in principles that are indicative of significant divergence of interest between two parties; in this case -- it pertains to Japan and the United States.

I do agree with you that the Fukuda Doctrine was utilized as a casus raison for Japan to further integrate and to explore new diplomatic gestures with Southeast Asia, particularly post-SEATO. It is interesting to note that the omnidirectional mandate that Fukuda and future leaders of Japan were able to rise above the static view of the Communist Threat, which was espoused by Washington's Domino Theory , at the time. Fukuda saw the potential in not just cultivating relations with Southeast Asia , but also in the cultivation of relations with Greater China (both the Mainland and Taiwan). By doing this, my friend, Japan was able to re-invigorate its long held , historical position that Asia be reawakened in the spirit of cooperation and inclusive growth, irrespective of political ideology.

The developmentalist in me recognizes that the United States, i suppose, helped Japan rehabilitate its relationship with the rest of Asia, and i refer to East , Southeast and South Asia here. That the war resulted in collateral damage, had also negatively impacted Japan's relations with these countries, the Fukuda Doctrine and with the United States' backing , Japan was able to maneuver effectively and to rehabilitate diplomatic, cultural, economic, and political relations in the continent. So yes, in the spirit of recognition, then I would agree with you that the United States had helped Japan rediscover its role in the region and in context to the historical relationship Japan had always had and held dear.

I suppose we can agree here that Japan's recent developments internally and externally is just the manifestation of further effects of the rediscovery paradigm. I see this as a positive.

 

[nang2]

So, it is now revealed. Thank You China !

@TaiShang

Japan is moving on to remove the shackle the world put on it after WWII. China is just an excuse. It is US that holds the shackle but it is likely that Japan will bite US the last as it depends on US to spread its wings now. Welcome to the arm race of east asia.

 

[Aepsilons]

Japan is moving on to remove the shackle the world put on it after WWII. China is just an excuse. It is US that holds the shackle but it is likely that Japan will bite US the last as it depends on US to spread its wings now. Welcome to the arm race of east asia.

China had always been our ......inspiration. Always.

Afterall, we Japanese are of China. Our ancestors were colonists from Jiangzhu, lol.

Albeit over 3 thousand years ago.

That is why i believe in the saying, "to hate China is like hating one's own mirror image".

How can we hate something that we came from?