Martin Luther King once defined "peace" as not just
the absence of conflict but also the existence of
justice.  I wonder if Japan deserves to call itself a
society at peace, given that definition.

Conservatives in Japan point to the protection that
the U.S. military offers Japan.  What they fail to
tell you is that despite an official anti-nuclear
policy, the Japanese government allows the U.S. to
keep nuclear weapons in this country.  And if anyone
thinks that makes Japan a safe country, think again.

The U.S. has not only used them on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, it has threatened to use them numerous times
since. At one time it planned on using nuclear weapons
on North Korea.  Another time in which their use was
considered was during the Gulf War.  Yet the predominant
image of the United States is that of sane country,
a democratic country, a trustworthy country.

While the U.S. hypocritically refers to the dangers
posed by other states, its own tendency to resort to
death and mass destruction is ignored by many in
Japan. And because Japan is carrying out U.S. policy, it is
very likely that Japan could be made a target
precisely because U.S. nuclear weapons are based here.

Meanwhile, the right wing in Japan (I refer to the LDP,
Komeito and the Liberal Party primarily, not the openly
fascist groups that ride around Nazi-style in trucks)
uses propaganda to try to convince people here that
remilitarizing (and greater cooperation with the U.S. military)
represents some sort of contribution to international human
rights and democracy.

But what has the U.S. contributed to either of these in
its history?  While it condemns Saddam Hussein in Iraq, it forgets to
mention that he was once an ally whom the the U.S.
supplied with many of his weapons of mass destruction
when it was convenient to do so.  As a result of U.S.
sanctions and military action, hundreds of thousands
of children have died of malnutrition and disease
according to UNICEF.  When asked about this, Secretary
of State Albright said 'that is the price we must be willing to pay
to get Saddam out of power'.  Her comments were generally
unreported by most of the "free world" news media.

In Yugoslavia the same pattern will likely be repeated
as the U.S. and NATO ignore international law and the
United Nations.  Thousands have already been killed in
the name of democracy, which is usually a euphemism for
establishing a U.S. market-friendly environment.  The
fact that Serbians have killed thousands of Albanians
is somehow used to justify the killing of thousands of
Serbs.  And already the victorious Albanian KLA is
killing many more Serbs in Serbia out of revenge
as the U.S. and NATO sits by "helplessly".  The
REAL purpose of the NATO bombing was to establish
that the US and NATO will only respect international
law when it is convenient to do so (the U.S. has
ignored World Court judgments against it in the
past, and its 1998 attack on Iraq was carried out
at the very moment the UN Security Council was
meeting to discuss the issue).

The U.S. always pretends it is on the side of freedom and
democracy but the reality is very different.  The fact that
the U.S. says it is in favor of democratic choice in East Timor, for
example, means nothing when we consider that the murder of
thousands of East Timorese by Indonesian military authorities
was made possible because of direct U.S. military aid, including
training at its infamous School of the Americas in Georgia.
The U.S. is only in favor of whatever government can provide
the stability to protect its investments. Democracy has nothing
to do with it.

But coming back to Japan, what have we seen in the
last few months?  The right wing has forced a number
of threats to democracy on the citizenry, and it looks
like few are prepared to fight back.  The same Japan
that claims it wants to join the U.S. in fighting for
democracy has now:

(1) made the Hinomaru and Kimi ga yo the official flag
and anthem, respectively;

(2) created a wiretapping law that allows the police
unprecedented freedom to listen to private
conversations and email exchanges in the name of
fighting crime;

(3) established new "Guidelines" to enable Japan to
engage in military action in "areas surrounding
Japan"--which can be defined as anywhere

(4) created panels charged with studying the
possibility of making revisions to the Constitution

What is the problem?  Well, even before the
flag-anthem laws came into being (with no public
discussion), school teachers were being punished for
refusing to use them in official entrance and
graduation ceremonies.  While the new law carries no
punishment, it is clear that the Ministry of Education
intends to continue cracking down on teachers who
refuse to cooperate.  A lawyer I spoke to said they
can do this because they claim it is part of a
teacher's responsibility to carry out his/her
educational responsibilities.  Never mind that
punishment is not stipulated in the law; the Mombusho
has always acted extra legally.  Moreover, it still
maintains undemocratic control of history textbooks in
an effort to whitewash Japan's fascist past.

What is especially worrying is that opposition to this
kind of outrageous behavior is weak and much of the
public just shrugs its shoulders and says "shikata ga
nai"--it can't be helped.  But because we are talking
about public education, the fear is that continuing
generations will not be exposed to a true history of
events and will thus be less inclined to question
authority as a result, which is exactly what the
Mombusho wants.

The Wiretapping law is particularly worrisome
because even when there was no law authorising
it, the police illegally wiretapped a Communist
Diet member's home phone and were even found guilty in
a court of law; yet the Police Agency itself escaped punish-
ment.  Now that it is legal, can we expect the police to abide by
its regulations that aim to protect privacy when they
illegally wiretapped the Diet member's home before there
was a law?

People don't realize how much the police abuse their
authority in this society.  There have been numerous
accusations of human rights violations by the police
in using torture to extract confessions from innocent
people.  The so-called substitute jail system is one reason
for this.  In addition, arrest is often used for no other purpose
than to gather information on political activists.

Given the true nature of the American military and the fact that
the Japanese right refuses to fully admit that its colonial past
was wrong, the expanded military cooperation with the U.S. is
worrisome indeed.  Already the Guidelines raise the possibility
that civilians will be forced to participate in American military
actions by the new Guidelines. And will we see the day when
young Japanese are again forced to fight in a war to defend
economic dominance over other countries?

Some say Japan should make an international contribution and
that the military Guidelines permit this to happen.  But what kind
of international contribution is aiding and abetting murder?

Some say it is natural for every country to have a flag and anthem,
and they even point out that many non Japanese do not object.
But the issue is not how many people in other countries are in favor.
Even in Japan there are millions who suffered and died in the name
of the Emperor.  To this day, the right circulates the lie that
Japan was protecting Asia from Western domination, and the Mombusho
is one of the reasons why many Japanese do not know their own
history.  And it is this SAME Mombusho which seeks to force
kids to "respect" a given song and flag. It is the Mombusho and
the Japanese right which seeks to produce a populace which
not only does not question the country's history but also would
willingly serve their country in time of crisis (as defined by the
military-big business elite here and in the United States).

And just in case some people say all this is a threat to Japan's
peace Constitution, the right is out to rewrite it under the
pretext that it was drafted by an occupying country and does
not suit Japan (it is with that same occupying country that Japan's
military-business complex seeks to increase military
cooperation, by the way).

People need to be on guard.  Sure, Japan with its massive number of
American military bases, with its MacDonalds hamburgers and Nike
shoes, looks like a peaceful, open place.  Even if forcing kids
to "respect" a flag and song do not seem like such terrible things,
we should understand what it is that big business and the military
might which protect them are doing to the people in the third world
countries who make NIKE shoes at slave wages.

If Japan and the U.S. still seem relatively free, it is because they
export the misery to military dictatorships around the world
where Japanese and American investments earn huge profits.
Meanwhile, Japanese and American workers are increasingly
being put out of work to save money.  But it's business
as usual in much of the third world where Nikes and Sonys and other
symbols of our consumer societies are made.

As we lose more and more of our rights, the Mombusho will seek to instill
a sense of patriotism that will make people say to themselves, "it can't be
helped, since we have to protect our society (economy) from those
who would destroy it." Earlier this century both Japan and the U.S.
imprisoned people who were labeled enemies of the State,
and it still happens on a smaller scale.   The existence of groups
like Aum Shinrikyo will be used as an excuse to wipe out
the rights of peaceful citizens.  The fact that North Korea acts
with a certain degree of unpredictability will be used as an
excuse to deepen the alliance with the United States
who VERY irrationally has threatened the world with its
nuclear weapons for 50 years, provoked the arms race, sold
chemical and biological weapons to both sides in a conflict
and has killed millions in the latter half of this century alone.

"Cold Pizza" Obuchi, so mild-mannered and grand fatherly,
has accomplished what openly militarist and rightist
Nakasone never could.  What is worse, few people seem
alarmed by this theft of democracy out from
under them.  Sooner or later, the mainstream media
will again be forced to stop being even mildly critical
(remember how they were forced to adopt "jishuku"
when the Emperor Showa was dying).  In the worst
cases, the media themselves will decide that suspension
of civil liberties and promotion of patriotism are necessary
to the survival of the society, as they once did.

Therefore it is important that all of us inform ourselves
and refuse to allow the theft of Japan's democracy to
accelerate by the increasing pace of authoritarian
policies.  Unless the Constitution is protected, unless
the attempt to wrap education in patriotism is reversed,
we could very well see a return to open fascism.  We
should not be fooled by the favorite words of modern politicians
like "internationalism"or "open markets".  The agenda of the
right is the same as it has always been, and the power of the
State, including police power, can always be brought to
bear on those who are seen to be standing  in the way of the
"national interest".

Postscript:  It is now January 2000, several months after I wrote the preceeding.  The other day residents in Shikoku voted against a dam that, despite the Government's undocumented claim of being necessary to prevent floods, environmentalists see as potemtially dangerous to the eco-system.  The Government's response to THOSE claims is to ignore them.  Worse, the Prime Minister, so eager to defend "democracy" as defined by the United States's "bombs of peace" has stated the Japanese government will ignore the referendum and proceed with constructi0on of their damned dam.  So much for democracy.  The lessons of Narita airport have not been learned. Authority is the name of the game, and the lack of sustained protest against it is disconcerting.