罵倒ではなく，粘り強い反論を！
投稿者： manntennbosi 投稿日時： 2001/07/12 22:28 投稿番号： [8028 / 35788]
ワシントンポストの社説から
nesday, July 11, 2001; Page A18
DESPITE A decade of economic woes, Japan remains the world's second largest economy. Yet it punches below its weight on the world stage, and two news stories this week serve as a reminder of the reasons for this oddity. In one story, history textbooks in Japan's schools gloss over Japanese atrocities during World War II, infuriating China and South Korea. In the other, Japan's judicial system prepares to treat a U.S. serviceman accused of rape in a manner that raises civil liberty concerns in this country. The common thread in these two tales is that, in seeking to avoid disharmony at home, Japan may alienate other nations, harming its aspirations to international leadership.
In order to suppress divisive arguments about the past, Japan has long avoided a painful reckoning with history. School history books have tended to present Japan as a victim as much as an aggressor -- the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is emphasized more than the massacre at Nanking or the sexual enslavement of women who served the imperial army. The Japanese government could ensure a more balanced view of history by filling its official commission on textbooks with experts committed to that objective. But it chooses not to provoke a domestic argument by taking that strong stand. As a result, it has provoked bitter protests from the Chinese and South Koreans.
The questions around Japan's judicial system have a similar quality. In order to defend its prized social harmony, Japan treats threats to order with illiberal severity. Public prosecutors secure convictions in an astonishing 99 percent of criminal cases. Many of these convictions are based on confessions extracted from suspects who are questioned intensively without access to lawyers. The idea that the nation's prosecutors might be proved wrong in a substantial number of cases seems as unpalatable as the idea that the nation did wrong during World War II. As a result, U.S. authorities cannot help fearing that an American serviceman turned over to Japan's judicial system will suffer an abuse of civil liberties.
Nations have a right to choose their own textbooks and judicial systems. But those choices have consequences, and Japan must accept that its aspiration to be a first-rank power, deserving of a U.N. Security Council seat, will be compromised so long as its Asian neighbors suspect it of shrouding its past and Western allies suspect it of indifference to liberty. Moreover, Japan must consider the possibility that its stance on textbooks and the judiciary are part of a broader national malaise. Sweeping uncomfortable truths under the carpet, investing too much faith in government -- these instincts also explain the protracted mess in the Japanese economy.
© 2001 The Washington Post Company
nesday, July 11, 2001; Page A18
DESPITE A decade of economic woes, Japan remains the world's second largest economy. Yet it punches below its weight on the world stage, and two news stories this week serve as a reminder of the reasons for this oddity. In one story, history textbooks in Japan's schools gloss over Japanese atrocities during World War II, infuriating China and South Korea. In the other, Japan's judicial system prepares to treat a U.S. serviceman accused of rape in a manner that raises civil liberty concerns in this country. The common thread in these two tales is that, in seeking to avoid disharmony at home, Japan may alienate other nations, harming its aspirations to international leadership.
In order to suppress divisive arguments about the past, Japan has long avoided a painful reckoning with history. School history books have tended to present Japan as a victim as much as an aggressor -- the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is emphasized more than the massacre at Nanking or the sexual enslavement of women who served the imperial army. The Japanese government could ensure a more balanced view of history by filling its official commission on textbooks with experts committed to that objective. But it chooses not to provoke a domestic argument by taking that strong stand. As a result, it has provoked bitter protests from the Chinese and South Koreans.
The questions around Japan's judicial system have a similar quality. In order to defend its prized social harmony, Japan treats threats to order with illiberal severity. Public prosecutors secure convictions in an astonishing 99 percent of criminal cases. Many of these convictions are based on confessions extracted from suspects who are questioned intensively without access to lawyers. The idea that the nation's prosecutors might be proved wrong in a substantial number of cases seems as unpalatable as the idea that the nation did wrong during World War II. As a result, U.S. authorities cannot help fearing that an American serviceman turned over to Japan's judicial system will suffer an abuse of civil liberties.
Nations have a right to choose their own textbooks and judicial systems. But those choices have consequences, and Japan must accept that its aspiration to be a first-rank power, deserving of a U.N. Security Council seat, will be compromised so long as its Asian neighbors suspect it of shrouding its past and Western allies suspect it of indifference to liberty. Moreover, Japan must consider the possibility that its stance on textbooks and the judiciary are part of a broader national malaise. Sweeping uncomfortable truths under the carpet, investing too much faith in government -- these instincts also explain the protracted mess in the Japanese economy.
© 2001 The Washington Post Company
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