The Little Island That Could
The Third Coming of Japan is not Something to be Feared
Echoes of World War II ring much louder in East Asia than perhaps any other part of the world. For Japan, despite a minority of political elites denying any wrong doings in the war, it is constantly reminded of the atrocities by its neighbors. Internally, there is a massive pacifist movement in post-war Japan. In fact, the political mechanisms of Japan are particularly structured so that the government cannot simply make any hasty or aggressive moves – until now.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been a very busy man since he reassumed office. His Abenomics have been in full tilt, attempting to bring the Japanese economy back to the top after its two-decade long slump. Not only that, but he has been advocating for a resurgence of Japan`s nuclear energy program, which was drastically cut after Fukushima. In a three-pronged plan, these two pieces are seemingly the most important. However, the third prong of his plan overshadows that importance: the push for collective defense.
Word choice is key when defining Abe`s new Japan. The rest of the news world seems to neglect this fact, however, and choose something that carries a bit more weight: militarism. From radical “news” websites like World Socialist to well known websites like The Guardian, the word militarism is tossed around like currency. For those in the know, Japanese militarism refers to the political and cultural state of Japan just prior to and during the war. A militarized Japan was the empire that raped Nanking and bombed Pearl Harbor; this new Japan is not that.
Abe is not, in any way, shape, or form, on the warpath. The Japan that exists today is not the Japan of the early 20th century. Japan has been increasingly altering its defense strategy since North Korea fired multiple rockets over mainland Japan in 1998. With North Korea becoming more volatile than ever and China attempting to reassert its hegemony in the region, the rest of East and South East Asia only serve to gain from Japan`s new collective defense policy.
Japan wants to pick up some of the responsibility for maintaining stability in the region, and it absolutely has the right to do so. Japan is the only developed nation in the world that cannot protect its key allies and sea-lanes. With a firm backing by Australia and vocal support by others in the region, Japan is set to become a defensive power in the East; a commonality it has never shared with its neighbors until now.
It is outright foolish for anyone to think Japan is militarized. Abe is trying to guide Japan out of the shadow cast upon them after 1945, not deeper. Japan`s most vocal opponent, China, even understands that war is not coming. The Middle Kingdom`s fear is not a third Sino-Japanese war; rather, being cast in the ever growing shadow of the Land of the Rising Sun.
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