pacifism

We all know that Japan's famous pacifist constitution was imposed upon it by US General MacArthur following defeat in WW2. (I'm not sure how widespread the idea of defeat as dishonorable is, I don't believe it to be. And Vince Lombardi's "winning isn't everything, it's the only thing" is the same sickness. ~from GB, btw)

CHAPTER II: RENUNCIATION OF WAR

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. 2) 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.

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I was wondering how widespread the idea of pacifism in modern Japanese culture/society might be. I know recently there has been talk of revising or altering this section of the constitution by some politicians and there has been sending of troops to places like East Timor and Iraq in recent years (perhaps because during the 1991 Gulf War they "only helped pay for the war" [or something]), and I have heard that this current war in Iraq has been widely unpopular with the population in general.


Pacifism is sometimes denounced as "rolling over & giving in".
However that is by its detractors.
While pacifism means the opposition to war,
it does not mean "rolling over & giving in".

A further inspection of the idea shows that historic practitioners
of pacifism, Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr, Dorthy Day, Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Aung San Suu Kyi etc.
were/are actively pacifist.

Would anyone know how pacifist/anti-war
the Japanese population is, as opposed to the gov't?

I'm not really looking for what people are willing to commit civil disobedience or anything, so maybe I shouldn't have listed all those big-name pacifists.

But are Japanese anti-war?
Why do they have a standing army?

I think its a case of being anti-war while remaining knowledgeable of what the world is really like. Having a country without any kind of army would just be ridiculous. Especially a country like Japan that has so many hostile neighbours.

Does China or Korea, the neighbors I'm suspecting you are refering to,
do either of them wish to take over Japan?

What would they have to gain?
Japan certainly doesn't have very much natural resources,
which $$$$ is the basis of all wars, to make me think either one of those countries would not want to attack it.


Costa Rica was the first country in the world to constitutionally abolish its army.
They have a 95% literacy rate, if that's got anything to do with it?

After WW2, USA and Japan signed a treaty that made USA responsible for the defense of Japan. Since then Japan has become a staunch ally, so USA doesn't want this economical burden anymore. Therefore USA is pushing Japan to become more militaristic. As for normal Japanese, they're just afraid the evil North Koreans will come over and eat their children.

Toru Ranryu said:

After WW2, USA and Japan signed a treaty that made USA responsible for the defense of Japan. Since then Japan has become a staunch ally, so USA doesn't want this economical burden anymore. Therefore USA is pushing Japan to become more militaristic. As for normal Japanese, they're just afraid the evil North Koreans will come over and eat their children.

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I guess you were sarcastic when saying that normal Japanese would be afraid of evil North Koreans eating up Japanese children.

North Koreans are not evil, neither are Japanese, US, Chinese, Iranians, Germans etc.
If you read more books about war propagandas (Sir Arthur Ponsonby was the first man who made studies about this phenomena), any opponent or enemy have been benchmarked and claimed as evil, devilish, inhuman, coldblooded.

I'm not a real pacifist, because I believe that every nation should have a capable military which can defend its sky,soil and water. But I hate wars because they show how governments and societies fail to be diplomatic and to respect each other.

Tim33 said:

I think its a case of being anti-war while remaining knowledgeable of what the world is really like. Having a country without any kind of army would just be ridiculous. Especially a country like Japan that has so many hostile neighbours.

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How many does it have? I can only count North Korea, and even they would not do first strikes!
Don't believe everything GW Bush and Blair is talking through the media. They cheated us all when they went to Iraq!
The so-called China-threat is also nothing more than a campaign trying to contain China's rise.
And if Japan would have been doing the same, I mean becoming a superpower in Asia, you can bet that the US would treat them completely different (no more strategic allies and no more weapons sales to Japan). They won't allow any other nation to become their competing rival, no matter you are a country from Asia, Africa, America, Australia or Europe.

CBT1979 said:

I guess you were sarcastic when saying that normal Japanese would be afraid of evil North Koreans eating up Japanese children.
North Koreans are not evil, neither are Japanese, US, Chinese, Iranians, Germans etc.

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Um. I think that was not the point. Many people in Japan do believe that North Korea is the biggest threat to their existence. It remains to be argued how much of those sentiments are justified. North Korea apparently has fired a few missles over Japan to test its reach, and there are still quite a few Japanese abducted by the North Koreans, about whom the Japanese get very little or distorted information.

The negative feelings towards North Korea are further worsened by the Japanese media, who have literally nothing positive to say about North Korea, or the North Koreans living in Japan (who are called ﾂ催昶?愿ｺ (zai-nichi), which is not a positive stereotype).

This doesn't say anything of course about the North Koreans themselves, who are unfortunate victims of totalitarian rule. But still, many Japanese fear the North Koreans. Which I can imagine, I mean, I wouldn't feel so safe either if Germany started firing missles in the North Sea, abducting Dutch civilians and at the same time tightly close its borders and release zero information on their internal affairs.

I'm pretty sure not every Japanese person thinks like this, so sorry if I made any rude generalizations. What I wrote here is based on my "limited" experience with Japan, the Japanese media and the Japanese people.