When Japan's surrender brought the second world war to a close the American occupation under General Douglas MacArthur imposed a new constitution which "renounced war as a means of settling disputes " and set Japan on a pacifist course. As a result, Japan has been spared the huge costs of defence spending and it has nestled gracefully under the American nuclear umbrella.
Chinese claims to sovereignty over the South China sea has been rocking the pacifist boat and Japanese alarm forced President Obama to specifically include disputed shoals and islands in the defence agreement between the two countries. Despite this, many senior Japanese ministers doubt that America would go to war in Japan's defence and a new lobby group is pressing for the constitution to be amended to restore Japan to it's " true, original characteristics ". Japan wants to rearm !
This lobby group is named "Nippon Kaigi " which simply means "Japan Conference " but it's membership is powerful. It's last chairman was a former Chief Justice and it has the support of at least a third of Japan's parliamentary members and that includes many who serve in Shinzo Abe's cabinet - and it claims the blessing of the prime minister.
The ordinary men and women of Japan have embraced this Pacifist constitution and it is expected that they will resist such a change, but the manner in which it is being suggested is alarming western nations. There is pressure to rewrite history to delete all mention of Japan's war crimes and instead applaud the invasion of Pacific Ocean countries as the liberation of East Asia from western colonialism and the formation of a "co-prosperity zone ". Shinzo Abe's visits to the Yasukuni shrine - which holds Japans war dead and includes executed war criminals - riles countries that suffered during occupation in the war and Japan is now retreating from admissions that it forced " comfort women " to serve in brothels used by it's military forces.
It probably is time that Japan resumed a normal role in the world community and it should shoulder it's military responsibility for joint defence, but the manner in which it seeks to shed it's past is disturbing. The fact that Nippon Kaigi has over thirty-eight thousand fee paying adherents from amongst the ranks of the powerful ensures that it's vision will probably prevail against the wishes of the general population. This contrasts sharply with the attitude of the other second world war aggressor - Nazi Germany.
Germany has gone to great lengths to atone for it's Nazi past. To dispute the Holocaust risks a long term in a prison. Museums and exhibitions lay the war years past bare for all to see and Germany was a founding nation of the EU which sought to bind the countries of Europe into an ever closer association - to remove the spectre of future armed conflicts. Germany has powerful armed forces but has been reluctant to come to the fore in world actions that have been endorsed by the United Nations. Germany is certainly the most powerful industrial country in Europe and it's economy eclipses all others - and yet it clings to a reduced political role within the European community.
Japan had a period of prosperity when it led the world in cars and electronics for some years but it's economy has stagnated. It is suffering "deflation " and rewards it's workers on the basis of "time served ""rather than " results achieved ". It has failed to draw women productively into it's workforce and it's company boardrooms are awash with male, elderly, inward looking directors who are risk adverse and welded to an outdated company structure.
The problem is that the rise of militarism in Japan will certainly spark a new arms race in the region. There is the risk of conflict with China - and as China has nuclear weapons there is every chance that such acquisition will eventually be also on the Japanese agenda. It is the aim of Nippon Kaigi to restore the Emperor to his former god like status and engender a new form of nationalism with the Emperor as the head of the nation.
A time to remember a very old maxim. Those that fail to learn from history - are destined to repeat the same mistakes !
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