Japans Remilitarization

[ComradeR]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6243499.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6153314.stm
So what do you think of this, between it's growing military power and that it's now encouraging teachers to instil patriotism in it's youth could we see a future resurgence of Japanese ultra-nationalism?

[Marukusu]

Considering the history of Japan (and the history of the japanese armed forces in particular) and the many tensions in Asia today, I find this very alarming.

[Comrade Wolfie's Very Nearly Banned Adventures]

Japan has few friends in Asia, I doubt China will be happy at this.

[Keyser]

Japan has few friends in Asia, I doubt China will be happy at this.

But the Chinese or South Koreans cannot do much about it. Japanese ultra-right nationalism may be on the rise and a new era of Japanese imperialism may be approaching, but this time Japan and America will be on the same side, against China and North Korea.

The US does not want to see China eclipse the power and global status of US imperialism and Japan in the only nation in the Far East that is rich enough and military powerful enough to pose a threat to China and North Korea. Taiwan and South Korea could only hold of the Chinese in war for a month at most before being taken over by the Chinese military (and this would be in the case of a conventional war with no nukes) so the US has given the OK for the Japanese to rearm and become a nation on a war footing.

In short Japan will become the Israel of the Far East.

[Tatarin]

But the Chinese or South Koreans cannot do much about it. Japanese ultra-right nationalism may be on the rise and a new era of Japanese imperialism may be approaching, but this time Japan and America will be on the same side, against China and North Korea.

Japanese nationalism seems to always be at a high level. Though, it has been over 60 years since the end of the second world war, and the US didn't equip Japan against China or the USSR during the Cold War. China is a rising economy, yes, and it also has quite some weapons to use.

But China today has gone the capitalist way and I don't think they will use much force in this conflict. North Korea is rotting from inside - it is the only nation that much refuses global capitalism in that area. Japan is flexing it's muscles because the US will help them in a stand-off situation with North Korea, but a full scale war? I don't think that is likely.

Once Kim Jong Il dies, North Korea will most probably take the same path as China, Vietnam and Laos.


The US does not want to see China eclipse the power and global status of US imperialism and Japan in the only nation in the Far East that is rich enough and military powerful enough to pose a threat to China and North Korea.

The US may use Japan as a form of "airstrip" (sound familiar :D ?), yes, but Japan itself isn't as strong. They only has an army of 100,000 or so people, and they don't have much for a navy and airforce. Japan's "pacifist constitution" don't allow it.


Taiwan and South Korea could only hold of the Chinese in war for a month at most before being taken over by the Chinese military (and this would be in the case of a conventional war with no nukes) so the US has given the OK for the Japanese to rearm and become a nation on a war footing.

I don't think South Korea or Taiwan will have much to make war with. And rearming Japan would take a long time, enough for China to bombard it.


In short Japan will become the Israel of the Far East.

No one knows that. The only thing that keeps total capitalism out of the Far East area is Kim Jong Il. Once he is dead, the US/Japan won't have any reason to do anything. They can conquer it economically instead.

[Cryotank Screams]

This maybe alarming however, it depends, because by constitutional law the japanese are not aloud to have a military, they can have a small police force, but no actual standing military as seen in america today, or imperial japan of WWII, and by article 9 of the post-imperial/meiji japanese constitution, it states the following;


ARTICLE 9. Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.

第九条　日本国民は、正義と秩序を基調とする国際平和を誠実に希求し、国権の発動たる戦争と、武力による威 嚇又は武力の行使は、国際紛争を解決する手段としては、永久にこれを放棄する。

In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized.

二　前項の目的を達するため、陸海空軍その他の戦力は、これを保持しない。国の交戦権は、これ を認めない。

So if they follow their constitution, I don't really see a neo-imperial japan arising per se, however the indoctrination of nationalism into the youth, and given the poltico-social currents of modern japan, this is something to be watched closely.

[Janus]

because by constitutional law the japanese are not aloud to have a military
They are prohibited from using military force to wage war. They do have a military ostensibly called the Japanese Self-Defense Forces whose budget cannot exceed 1% of their total budget. However, Japan's huge economic power insures that this 1% is still quite a large sum. What's worrying is that its recent Iraq deployment also marks the first overseas deployment (as part of a non-UN force) and it's possible that this may mark the beginning of an offensive Japanese army.

So these increasingly militaristic and ultranationalistic policies by the Japanese government are going to create further tension between it and the PRC with the potential to become much more serious in the future.