Asia Centre

...on November 18th on the fringes of the APEC Summit. They brought up the Yasukuni visit, and the South Korean President expressed his belief that by their visits to the shrine the Japanese leaders were engaging in acts of "symbolic aggression" against his country. Mr. Koizumi repeated his view that there was no question of glorifying or justifying the last war, but rather through these visits the Japanese leaders and people were voicing their resolve never to make war again, while showing their sorrow for those fallen in combat. For his part, President Hu Jintao refused to hold talks with Mr. Koizumi.[1]

The South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs pointedly declared in talks held with his Japanese counterpart on the 14th that he wished his fellow citizens could believe the Japanese leaders when they voiced their excuses and their regrets.[2] In addition, the Japanese Foreign Minister's visit to China, planned for October 23rd-24th, was cancelled at China's request.

The leader of the Democratic Party, Mr. Maehara, criticised the failure to represent the country's interests shown by these Prime Ministerial visits, and he accused him of standing in the way of any global strategic dialogue with China.[3] Among ordinary members of parliament these visits are creating a great deal of disquiet, even among those close to the Prime Minister. Y. Mori, President of the Japanese-Korean parliamentary league was in Korea on November 10th, where he tried in vain to persuade the South Korean President to visit Japan before the end of the year.[4]

Japanese public opinion is divided over the justification of this visit "in a private capacity". 46% say that they are persuaded by it, and 45% say they are not.[5] According to the same opinion poll, 65% of the respondents were anxious about the effect of such visits on relations with South Korea and China. Another opinion poll showed that 58% of the Japanese believe that the debate over Japanese responsibility for events during the Second World War has been inadequate or very inadequate.[6]

The last "pilgrimage" by Mr. Koizumi occurred shortly after the Osaka court of appeal's decision that these visits were in violation of the constitutional separation of Religion and the State. One hundred and eighty-eight people, including thirteen Taiwanese, were seeking joint damages from the State, from Mr. Koizumi, and from the shrine, for the moral suffering caused by the three visits between 2001 and 2003. In its verdict on September 30th, the court ruled that the Prime Minister was making these visits in his official capacity, and that therefore this essentially religious activity was forbidden under the Constitution; to continue these visits in spite of the criticisms at home and abroad gave the impression that this particular shrine enjoyed special support from the State, which amounted to promoting a specific religion.[7] The court also ruled that there was insufficient hurt to justify damages. This was the first time that an appeals court had handed down a verdict of unconstitutional conduct.

The creation of a memorial to commemorate those who died for the motherland, but without any religious connotations, is the subject of ongoing debate. Mr. Koizumi and Mr. Abe, who seems to be the favourite to succeed him following his nomination as governmental spokesman, are not in favour.[8] Neither is the association of the families of the fallen. The latter is still a lobby carrying considerable weight within the LDP, despite the falling numbers of votes it represents. Mr. Abe has declared that the government would pay careful attention to future developments in public opinion.

The present Minister of Foreign Affairs, Asô Tarô, is in favour of the visits to the Yasukuni shrine: "It is unthinkable not to accord the highest honour to those who have given their lives for the motherland. Famous historical people have visited the Yasukuni. Yoshida Shigeru took me there on several occasions. August 15th has no particular significance from the shrine's point of view. I visited it last year for the Spring Festival. This is the fifth time that the Prime Minister has gone there, and I believe that he chose the right date. If I were the Prime Minister, I would not go on August 15th, the date of our defeat, but rather during the shrine's great Autumn or Spring festivals, or on the Anniversary of the Navy, May 27th".

He believed that opposition from "other countries in the region" was exaggerated: "There is much talk about regional opposition, but in fact it is a matter of South Korea and China alone. Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand do not raise these issues. I do not believe that relations with China and Korea would improve simply because a Prime Minister said 'I will not go to the Yasukuni any more'. The media here talk about it too much. This time they have again transmitted live broadcasts of the Prime Minister's visit, and this gives a false impression".

Asked about his assessment of the reforms carried out by Mr. Koizumi, Asô Tarô said that the Jimintô had been able to reform itself and formulate proposals for reforms: "Firstly the media have inadequately reported on the way that the Jimintô has greatly changed. It has understood that it could not retain power without reforming itself. Four years ago, it conducted a survey into the expectations of the people. The Jimintô expected that their primary concern would be the difficulty in finding employment or achieving higher growth, but in fact concerns over security were a long way ahead. Moreover, 60% of those questioned supported a variable increase in VAT. And 51% were in favour of a 10% increase. People over 60, who are mostly not liable for income tax and pay only VAT, were particularly supportive. I said to myself that concern for the common well-being had risen in Japan. The Jimintô was able to adapt to the changing times".

The decentralisation project, which was part of Mr. Asô's ministerial brief, heads the list of things which he would like to see completed: "It is a matter of reducing administrative costs and improving the allocation of funds, not that public works will no longer be needed. There have certainly been abuses of funds, such as building motorways only used by wild animals, but there is still a need for investment, particularly in telecommunications."

The Fundamental law on education needs to be reformed. It was introduced wholesale on the model of other countries, and it should be made to reflect more closely the character of the Japanese nation.

There is no doubt that the Constitution should be reformed, particularly with regard to article 9.2 on the retention of military capability, in order to bring it more in line with modern conditions. The international situation is completely different now from what it was when the Constitution was drafted. Moreover, it should be written in suitably impressive Japanese, and the drafting should not be entrusted to civil servants. Of course, these projects will require the consent of the Kômeitô, but it too has changed greatly in recent times.

Mr. Asô envisages a Japan whose government would be "small but strong". An ageing society with in diminishing population is not in itself a problem. Japanese society "will not be an impoverished ageing society, but a dynamic elderly one (katsuryokuaru kôreikashakai). Strong countries are those which attract rich people, and Japan has many attractions. One of them is security. Another is the lack of racial discrimination: the Japanese make no distinction between foreigners (sic). Japan is a country in which people want to invest, but they are afraid of invasion by North Korea or some other country. To avoid those fears being raised, we must become a country which is strong though it may be small".

Abe Shinzô, the new governmental spokesman and former general secretary of the Jimintô, gave a similar reply with respect to the Yasukuni visits: "The Prime Minister's visit on October 17th was a very good thing. The visits on August 15th only began with Prime Minister Miki Takeo (1974-1976). Previous Prime Ministers tended to visit on the Autumn or Spring festivals. That was the case with my grandfather, Kishi Nobusuke, in particular. Every head of state must pay his respects to those who have fallen in the service of their country, and he must join his hands in prayer for the peace of their souls".

As for the reactions in neighbouring countries, Mr. Abe reported the statement from President Yudhoyono of Indonesia, who considered it quite normal that a head of state should pray for those who had fallen for the motherland. As for South Korea and China, those two countries were not in exactly the same position in relation to Japan: "South Korea has never been at war with Japan. Although there is still the problem of the occupation and its historical memories, the two countries share the same democratic values, and their economic and cultural exchanges are flourishing. The question of China should be seen in the context of their anti-Japanese education, and the problems which we face there are not of the kind which can be settled quickly. Therefore any suspension of visits to the Yasukuni shrine would not make much difference. Japan should take an overall view of Asia, strengthening the partnership with the United States while engaging more closely with the other centre of growth represented by India, Australia, and Indonesia - a country which holds a leading position within ASEAN and has adopted the election of its President by universal suffrage. Russia is no longer the Soviet Union, so that the policy of seeking a peace treaty with her can be abandoned. There should be more rapid moves towards signing the Free Trade Agreements (FTA) and the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA). With such an approach to Asia as a whole, China's policy towards Japan will have to change as well".

With regard to Mr. Koizumi's reforms, Mr. Abe believes that the government has managed to take the structural reforms further and has removed the principal decision-making role (kanshudô) from the civil service which had kept it over the last sixty years: "With the reforms to the postal service, for example, we have managed to hand over a part of this power to the people (kan hara min he). We used to be run in a quasi-socialist way. Now we need to move further towards a market economy. The competitiveness of the Japanese economy has been improved by these measures. …We must continue with the structural reforms and we must get rid of the handicap weighing on Japanese firms by deregulating and reforming the financial system. It is also very important to reform the health and social security systems, particularly on the medical side. In that respect, Mrs. Thatcher probably went too far in the UK. It is not a matter of Japan importing the Anglo-Saxon model but of finding the right balance for ourselves".

In the field of foreign affairs, Mr. Abe stated his view that passing the bills on terrorism (2001) and deployment in Iraq (2003) in particular, were positive measures.

On constitutional reform, Mr. Abe expressed his desire to reconnect the Japanese people with the political process: "One way of achieving this is through constitutional reform. The present constitution was not drawn up by the Japanese but by the American General Head Quarters. A constitution is not holy writ; its aim is to allow for the wellbeing of the people living at the time".

What kind of country would Mr. Abe like to build? "A country whose inhabitants are proud to have been born there. What are the conditions for pride in one's country? Those which allow it to be culturally active, economically strong, and able to defend itself. It is also necessary for the country to participate in the international community by sharing its values and defending freedom and democracy".

Tanigaki Sadakazu, who has been Minister of Finance since September 2003, notes that there has always been a debate over whether Prime Ministerial visits to the Yasukuni shrine were private or public matters: "Mr. Koizumi has clearly stated that his visits were in a private capacity. Many people claim that a Prime Minister should no longer have a private life, but in that case he could not even visit the tombs of his ancestors. As soon as this distinction is accepted, there should be no problems in the future". On the question as to whether he would go there himself in the event of his becoming Prime Minister, he said that it would be presumptuous to reply since he is not yet in that position: "We have very long-standing relations with all the countries in the region. Economic ties have never been stronger, and in order to preserve them there must be friendly bilateral relations. Heads of state on both sides must bear that in mind and take care not to damage such links. Overreaction shows a lack of self-confidence. If you respect the values inherited from your ancestors, you also respect the traditions of others. Of course, we cannot say to China, 'if only you did as we do (and respected your traditions)', but we can try to have mature relations with them".

"Mr. Koizumi was obliged to consult the people directly on the reform of the postal service, but direct democracy which by-passes parliament is not ideal. In principle, politicians should discuss matters calmly and seek common grounds for an agreement acceptable to the majority. Postal reform was a taboo area, as is a reliance on factions. They have their advantages, but they also have the drawback of creating lobby groups among the members of the Diet (zokugiin)".

"Talk about constitutional reform quickly focuses on article 9, but that is not the only issue which calls for reform. The wording needs to be adapted to the changes in the country, to explore how the Diet could exercise better control over the administration, and to reflect on how the Justice Department could serve as a check on the executive".

On the issue of the economic reforms: "Two factors have led to the implementation of structural reforms: the ageing population and the growth of China and India. In October 2004, Beijing hosted a summit meeting of the G20 (a gathering of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors from twenty countries), and Africa and Brazil can no longer be ignored. Some of these rapidly developing countries offer cheap labour while others are rich in raw materials. Japan must react to this 'megacompetition'. The Japanese are hard workers, they have an advanced technological base, they value the power of knowledge, and they are enthusiastic entrepreneurs. These qualities must be put to good use".

"Reform of the fiscal system cannot be avoided. Many people feel that it is currently very unfair. Salaried workers who are taxed at source wonder whether the self-employed are not getting a better deal. Structural and fiscal reforms must be priorities for any future Prime Minister. Whenever structural reforms are mentioned, people imagine an American law of the jungle, where giants like Bill Gates come out on top and the little man is crushed. But real conservatism attaches importance to the family and local communities. Ideally we should build a country where the individual has trust in the State … If the Japanese have no confidence in the culture and history of their country, they cannot conduct themselves calmly (ochitsuita taido) within its norms. In order to enjoy respect in the international community, we need a culture without complexes[1] and capable of standing up to others; this goal of being a "great nation" in the true sense of the word, is definitely what we should be aiming for".