日本は何故、反省しないのか？

[NYT] Japan's New Nationalism (1)
May 29, 2001
THE NEW YORK TIMES
By HERBERT P. BIX

Newly installed Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has restarted
debate over altering Japan's constitution. The relationship between
Japan's political elites and their 1946 constitution has long been
vexed. The question now is why constitutional debate has resurfaced
and what it may portend for Japan and the world outside.

For years, Japanese conservatives have claimed that the "MacArthur"
constitution of 1946 not only demeans Japan's armed forces, but also
hampers the nation's ability to fulfill its United Nations
obligations. Article 9 of the constitution forever renounces war as
a right of the state "and the threat or use of force as a means of
settling international disputes."

Japanese critics observe that in 2001 the circle of great powers is
no more open to the militarily hobbled than it was in 1904, when
Japan defeated Russia. Because of its constitution, Japan (they say)
is out of step internationally and hopelessly out of "real" power.
But to bring about change, a new constitution must be drafted, one
that can gain the support of two-thirds of the members of both
legislative houses. Then a national election must be held and
popular consent registered.

Not very logically, the constitution is blamed for other, quite
different woes. For more than a decade Japan has achieved virtually
no economic growth. Unemployment is officially at 4.7 percent, an
all-time Japanese postwar high, and slowly rising. Inequalities in
the distribution of wealth have steadily widened. Vast amounts of
tax income have gone into public works projects, while other tax
billions have been used to prop up debt-ridden, essentially bankrupt
financial institutions. The long recession drags on; so, too, do the
corruption, deceit and public non-accountability that have long been
key ingredients in the workings of Japan's political-industrial-
financial system.

This spring, facing July elections for the House of Councilors ・
the upper chamber of Japan's Parliament ・the heads of the
country's conservative parties closed ranks behind Mr. Koizumi, a
media-savvy, popular politician who seems privately nontraditional.
Trained in economics in London, the 59-year-old prime minister is
the third generation of a family of national-level politicians. He
is a former cabinet minister, with an understanding of the basic
health and welfare needs of Japan's rapidly aging society, and he
projects a youthful persona.

Mr. Koizumi proclaims that he will restore the competitive power of
Japanese industry and finance. He calls for several very non-
traditional measures: the postal service must be privatized, the
prime minister must be popularly elected, the public debt should be
reduced and the economy freed of excessive bureaucratic restrictions.

But if Mr. Koizumi's economic views are those of a neo-liberal, or
what Americans would call a free- market conservative, he appears
quite traditionally nationalist in other areas. He is unambiguous in
his passion for revision of the constitution and wants to abolish
the war- renouncing Article 9 even though its pacifist ideals are
now broadly rooted in Japanese society. Like other right-wing
nationalists, he would have Japan assume military responsibility in
world affairs proportional to its economic strength. And, by making
the emperor the head of state (genshu) rather than, as in the 1946
Constitution, a "symbol" (shocho), he would enhance the throne as an
integrating force in Japanese life.