Strictly prohibiting constitutional amendments and eliminating excessive nationalism - How does the US control Japan? Perspectives on the third period of modern Japan 2

The second Abe administration (2012-2020) of the Seiwakai, which rose to become the largest faction in the Liberal Democratic Party in the 21st century, became the longest-running government in constitutional history. However, soon after its rise, a collapse awaited it. After leader Shinzo Abe was murdered in 2022, under the Kishida administration of the post-war conservative Kochi-kai, pro-Abe members were intensively investigated by special prosecutors over the ``political party slush funds'' issue , and the Abe faction quickly fell apart. In the previous article, ``  Perspectives on the Third Period of Modern Japan - Foreword , '' Kimmochi Saionji, a liberalist and the last of the elder statesmen who interacted with radical republicans while studying in France, wrote about Yoshida Yoshida in order to ``eliminate fanatical imperial worshipers from around the Emperor .'' He pointed out that Shigeru's father, Nobuaki MAKINO, who had strong liberal tendencies, was appointed Minister of the Interior for 10 years starting in 1925, which corresponded to Joji Sukesuke . Shinzo Abe, who appeared 100 years later, was clearly a fanatical admirer of the imperial family in Saionji's eyes . Is it a coincidence that Abe died and the Seiwa-kai was disbanded under the Kishida administration, which inherited the Kochi-kai network of founders Saionji, Makino , and Yoshida ? It is certain that at least the United States has been trying to correct the rise of Japan's excessive revivalist nationalism and the destruction of postwar Japan over the past ten years .

■Economic threat/Remodeling of Japan

The so-called "lost 30 years" marked the dramatic decline of the Japanese economy following the collapse of the bubble economy in 1991 . The American neoconservatives who control the US administration have firmly maintained two principles in handling Japan, with the main premise being the maintenance of the Japan-US Security Treaty . The first is to not allow hawkish politicians who glorify the pre-war era to touch the Japanese Constitution, which came into effect in May 1947. In addition, it is important to nip in the bud the anti-American sentiment that Japan's far-right forces, which pretend to be pro-American, could erupt.

Henry Kissinger can be said to be the originator of the Japan Handlers, who openly showed their hatred of Japan . During a secret visit to Beijing in 1971 , Chou Enlai asked Kissinger, `` Wouldn't militarism return to Japan, which had become an economic superpower ?'' In response, Kissinger said, `` The current U.S. policy toward Japan is actually deterring Japan. As Japan is an economic superpower, it has a desire to emerge as a great power both politically and in terms of security.''He expressed a sense of caution, saying , ``If the alliance is dissolved, Japan will begin to take uncontrollable actions. '' There is. China should understand that the U.S.-led security treaty serves as a lid to contain the monster of Japanese militarism. It was later referred to as the ``bottle cap,'' and those involved view it as the cornerstone of U.S. policy towards Japan. As American political scientist Christopher Lane has said, the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty was a means of ``double containment'' to contain Japan along with the Soviet Union.

From the 1970s to the 1980s, serious economic and trade friction continued between Japan and the United States in areas such as textiles, steel, home appliances, automobiles, and semiconductors. The Japan-US economic friction was sometimes agitated as a Japan-US economic war. The US side fiercely attacked Japan's exports to the US , calling them a torrential downpour and market usurpation. The Japanese side points out that the US side also has inherent problems, such as the so-called ``hollowing out of industry and trade deficit '' caused by the overseas expansion of manufacturing industries , and the twin deficits of the fiscal deficit due to ``deficit debt dependence.'' As a result, the exchange rate was adjusted to sharply appreciate the yen, and Japan's economy exploded into a financial bubble. The reality is that Japan is being manipulated by the United States, and the bubble will soon burst. Although I will not discuss the details here, the collapse of the bubble economy and the disposal of non-performing loans meant a ``second defeat against the United States.'' In 1989, Japan-U.S. Structural Talks began under the leadership of the United States, which pressed for a reform of Japan's economic structure. Japan's wealth, which had accumulated from nothing after its defeat in the war, was usurped by the US's request for regulatory reform starting in 1994, and the ``lost 30 years'' began. It has become ``a new postwar era that overwrites the postwar era after the war.''

In the Potsdam Declaration, which led to Japan's surrender in 1945 , the United States vowed to "never again pose a threat to Japan," and ordered GHQ to liberate the Japanese from the Emperor's cult and work toward democratic reform in Japan. However, less than 40 years later, ``Japan, which had become an economic power, once again became a threat to the United States.'' This threat was also bottled up. The new bottle cap is a request for regulatory reform that has been exchanged annually between Japan and the United States since 1993 , but in reality it is a recommendation from the US government to intervene in internal affairs of the Japanese government. Amendments to the Building Standards Act , establishment of law schools , extension of copyright protection period and strengthening of copyrights , reform of the judicial system including the lay judge system , strengthening of antitrust laws and stricter implementation, deregulation of worker dispatch businesses , privatization of the postal service, etc. I don't have time. None of the requests from the Japanese side to the US side have been realized. Many people on the Japanese side object to this, saying, `` It is consistent with the pursuit of America's national interests , and there are many aspects of it that are contrary to Japan's national interests.'' It can be said that the ``remodeling of Japan by the United States'' following the occupation period (1945-1952) is progressing.

The other is the Armitage Nye Report, which began to be published in 2000 and makes recommendations regarding the security of Japan and East Asia in general . This report was published as a recommendation for Japan by the Center for International and Strategic Studies (CSIS), an American think tank based in Washington, DC. All requests from the US side, as well as requests for regulatory reform from the US government, have been implemented. Japan's demands are unilateral, with no mechanism in place to accept them. Needless to point out, in the United States, when there is a change of government, politically appointed government officials often find employment at influential think tanks. Even after leaving the government, powerful politicians remain involved in policymaking through a revolving door (another name for think tanks). Kissinger resigned as Secretary of State in 1977 with the departure of the Ford administration . He was invited to join Georgetown University's Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

CSIS became an independent research institution from Georgetown University in 1987 . Due to the history of its establishment, it has strong ties to American national security groups such as the U.S. Army . From around this time, young politicians, bureaucrats, journalists, and researchers who were seen as promising for Japan's future were sent one after another to become CSIS researchers and were brought into the fold of American interests. The Japan Headquarters has staff members from the Ministry of Defense , the Public Security Intelligence Agency , the Cabinet Secretariat , and the Cabinet Information Research Office as well as staff members from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's affiliated organizations, the Japan External Trade Organization , non-life insurance companies, and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone as visiting researchers. A series of The people who controlled the Japanese center in Tokyo came to be called Japan Handlers. The early Japanese handlers were coached by Kissinger and Zbigniew Brzezinski. They also overlap with neocon networks.

■ The core of the third recommendation : Constitutional amendment strictly prohibited

The Armitage Nye Report, co-authored by Richard Armitage, Deputy Secretary of State in the W. Bush administration (2001-2009), and Joseph Nye, Distinguished Service Professor at Harvard University, has been published in five editions. The most controversial report in Japan was the third report released in August 2012. This report brought about a major change in Japan's security policy, including allowing the exercise of the right of collective self-defense, which sparked violent protests, as well as abolishing the Act on the Protection of Specially Designated Secrets and the Three Principles on Arms Exports, as well as restarting nuclear power plants, and the Pacific Rim. It was recommended that the Partnership Agreement ( TPP) be promoted. The Liberal Democratic Party, whose party policy is to revise the constitution, published a new draft constitution in April 2012, the 50th anniversary of the San Francisco Peace Treaty, and Article 9 deleted Clause 2 of the current constitution (non-retention of military forces, renunciation of the right to belligerent), and the Self-Defense Forces. was officially recognized . In September 2012, Shinzo Abe returned to the leadership of the Liberal Democratic Party. The third report was made public with an eye toward these trends of the Liberal Democratic Party.

The Japanese media has overlooked the most important US recommendations and messages to Japan. The third report strongly urges that ``the pacifist constitution should not be amended,'' along with demands for permission to exercise the right of collective self-defense. CSIS has consistently maintained the stance that ``security-related requests should be addressed by interpreting and amending the constitution.'' Why. Allowing the exercise of the right of collective self-defense and doubling defense spending will be a major change in Japan's postwar security policy, leading to unprecedented military expansion. From an outside perspective, Japan will become one of the world's leading military powers, after the United States and China. At this point, we must remember the true intentions and sense of caution of the United States, as Kissinger said, ``Japan , which has a desire to emerge as a great power in both politics and security, will begin to take uncontrollable actions .'' From this point of view, the core of the third report is that `` Even if we change the policy prohibiting the exercise of the right of collective self-defense ... Japan will not try to become more militarily aggressive or revise its pacifist constitution.'' (A change in Japan's prohibition of collective self-defense would address that irony in full. A shift in policy  should not seek  … a more militarily aggressive Japan, or a change in Japan's Peace Constitution . )" .

In other words, changing the Japanese constitution would make Japan independent from the United States and threaten to start taking uncontrollable actions, so changing the constitution is strictly prohibited. For the U.S. side, it is necessary to maintain the Peace Constitution in order for the Self-Defense Forces to exercise their right of collective self-defense against the U.S. military, which is growing in size, and that the Peace Constitution serves to subordinate the Self-Defense Forces to the U.S. military and constrain the exercise of the right of collective self-defense. become. In 2014, the Abe administration recognized the exercise of the right of collective self-defense as constitutional based on its interpretation of the Constitution, and a cabinet decision was made. If the later Cabinet deems this to be unconstitutional, the security legislation enacted to allow the exercise of the right of collective self-defense will be invalidated. The reason that the United States asked Japan to allow the exercise of the right of collective self-defense through a constitutional amendment can only be seen as the possibility that if any inconvenience arises for the United States, the exercise of the right to collective self-defense could be made unconstitutional by reinterpreting the constitution.

Prime Minister Abe (at the time) made a subtle comment to journalist Soichiro Tahara, saying, ``Once we decided to exercise the right of collective self-defense, the United States, which had been noisy until then, stopped saying anything.There was no need to amend the Constitution.'' Still, Abe continues to insist on amending the constitution. However, Abe himself was the one who knew best that constitutional amendment was impossible. Even so, he had to keep saying that he would ``revise the constitution.'' I described the circumstances behind this in ````Prime Minister Abe's biggest lie is ``I will accomplish the constitutional amendment with my own hands'' -- How is he deceiving us?''