Shigeru Yoshida, the suave, cigar-smoking former diplomatand one of Japan’s most prominent postwar prime ministers, has gained renewedpopularity, thanks to a historical drama on national television and the talentsof the actor Ken Watanabe. In one scene, Yoshida points to the letters “GHQ” “the initials of the General Headquarters of the Allied Occupation of Japan “and renders them as “Go Home, Quickly.”'
Yet despite his desire to see the foreigners leave, Yoshidawas able to work closely with Gen Douglas MacArthur and a succession of formerenemies. The “Yoshida Doctrine,” emphasising economic growth and dependence onthe United States for security, charted a realistic and ultimately successfulcourse for his defeated and discredited nation. His political heirs couldbenefit from his example in pragmatism and statecraft. For months now thewaters around Japan have been teeming with territorial disputes, first withSouth Korea and now with China and Taiwan. The virulence of this latestChinese-Japanese spat is chilling, and there’s no end in sight.
Neither history nor geography are clear on the complicatedownership of the tiny islets called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China. Inthis sensitive period of political transitions in both countries, wisdom wouldhave dictated restraint. But in April, Shintaro Ishihara, the influentialgovernor of Tokyo, threatened to buy the disputed islands from their privateowners. His taunting forced the normally measured prime minister, YoshihikoNoda, to take a hard stance by announcing the national government’s purchase ofthe isles.
Across China protesters took to the streets, smashing andlooting Japanese cars and property and littering the Japanese Embassy inBeijing with trash. Thankfully, the Japanese have remained calm. Still, thedamage to ties between the two Asian giants has been extensive. Trade, whichreached a record $345 billion last year, has been affected. Academicconferences and cultural exchanges were canceled. As of this week dozens ofJapanese schools have called off their autumn study visits to China, andtourism between both countries is in free fall.
The favorite scapegoat of many Japanese nationalists isJapan’s Constitution “ in particular Article 9, which forever renounces war asan instrument of settling international disputes. And I fear that it’s in for anew round of criticism, even though the benefits of peace over the past 65years far outweigh its constraints. Even the conservative Yoshida would vouchfor this point: When in 1947, fearing the spread of communism, the Americansmade a volte-face and started pressing Japan to remilitarise, Yoshida stuckwith the Constitution, keeping his country out of America’s wars as he focusedon rebuilding.
Moreover, Japan’s self-defense forces can hardly bedescribed as weak. In terms of military spending, the country actually rankssixth worldwide. As to Japan’s alleged “weakness” in protecting its far-flungarchipelago, international law and diplomacy have thus far served it remarkablywell. Indeed, under the 1982 Law of the Sea, its Exclusive Economic Zone, inwhich a country enjoys special exploration and resource rights, is far greaterthan China’s.
Japan’s weaknesses are inherent to itself, a post-industrialsociety of the 21st century unable to reform fast enough. Too many politiciansstill wax lyrical about the moneyed 1970s and '80s, of the “Japan that can sayno.” But that era is not returning; the challenges the Japanese faced back thenare not applicable to today’s conditions. Saber rattling is of little value ina rapidly aging society: Roughly 30 million of its people are over 65, some 24percent of the population, according to the most recent census.
Japan’s very real problems “ its revolving-door politics,rising social costs, energy conundrums, inflexible work environment, stalledimmigration policies, decaying infrastructure and a depopulating countryside “all need to be resolved. Yet its rigid, hierarchical system provides littleopportunity for the young, women and foreigners “ precisely those who mighthelp the establishment think differently.
It would be just as dangerous for Japan to forget its ownstrengths: It is a functioning democracy, a harmonious society with a powerfulwork ethic, a country of great achievement in science and technology. Surelythe solidarity Japan received after the earthquake and tsunami of 2011 is proofenough of its international prestige.
The Chinese government has canceled events marking the 40thanniversary of the normalization of ties with Japan. This is regrettable. It isnot only the painful history of this past century or even the currentterritorial spats that define, bind and separate these two lands. For almost1,300 years “ from the adoption of Chinese characters, Buddhism and statecraftin the early 7th century until the Sino-Japanese war of 1894 “ the twoneighbors were able of get along and even enrich each other. One cannot give uphope that they may do so again.
As Yoshida would surely have advised, the Chinese and theJapanese don’t need to love one another “ simply working effectively for theirown mutual benefit should be sufficient.
Nassrine Azimi issenior adviser at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research inHiroshima
