The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
20 Nov 2019 ·
Amidst an Explosion of Anti-Korean Hate: Thoughts on Overcoming Colonialism and Bringing Peace to the Korean Peninsula | The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
· …Republic of Korea (DPRK), but also towards the Republic of Korea (ROK). Ever since his debut as a politician when elected to the lower house of the Diet in 1993, Prime Minister Abe Shinzo has stood in the vanguard within the Liberal Democratic Party of a faction championing denial of Japan’s war of aggression and the history of the Japanese military’s sex slavery and the Nanjing Massacre. Since Abe has been prime minister for a total of eight years, first in 2006-2007 and then from the end of 2012 to the present, the current situation may be the inevitable conclusion to his reign. Distortion and denial of the history of Japanese military sex slavery under Abe’s administration has spread through the media to general Japanese society. It has now extended to denial of “forced mobilization” as a whole, and as hate speech intensifies on the streets and in public media including the Internet, right-wingers have even begun to propagate historical revisionism overseas in the name of “history wars.” .. Read more → https://apjjf.org/2019/21/Norimatsu.html
The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
18 Oct 2017 ·
· …North Korea and by the severe weakness of the political opposition.1 Abe was especially eager to strike before Tokyo Governor Koike Yuriko had time to organize a strong national party. By acting decisively to win the October 22 election, he would secure another four years of LDP power. But there is another reason for Abe’s timing that has received less attention in the international press. Throughout 2017, the Prime Minister has been dogged by a series of cases that exposed government malfeasance. Repeated revelations of government wrongdoing involving cronyism and willful concealment and destruction of potentially embarrassing public records had taken a toll on Abe’s popularity. Surely, he feared that with the opening of a new Diet session, investigations of cases like these would again reveal the unpleasant underside of Abe’s great power and lead to declining support levels and perhaps calls for him to step down. The clever Abe was able to sidestep all this. By calling the “snap election” he shut down the Diet, sidelined the investigations, and shifted the people’s focus to other issues. We’ll examine some of the cases that attracted the most attention below and explain how news reporters and citizen activists were able to uncover evidence of wrongdoing. There is no doubt that recent legal reforms, especially the 2001 Information Disclosure Law and the 2011 Public Records Act, played a key role in forcing officials to explain their actions and release evidence that otherwise would have been destroyed or buried forever in closed government files. These cases should provide encouragement to open government advocates around the world. Information disclosure and other transparency laws can be effective tools to uncover the truth and enable citizens to hold government accountable. Japan’s disclosure law played a role in one of the most startling political events of 2017 -- the July 28 resignation of Defense Minister Inada Tomomi, commonly regarded as Abe’s chosen successor. When the information disclosure law took effect in 2001, Japan joined a global movement toward greater government transparency. In a widely read report, Tom Blanton proclaimed a “World’s Right to Know” that arose in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union. According to Blanton, “History may well remember the era that spanned the collapse of the Soviet Union and the collapse of the World Trade Center as the Decade of Openness.”2 During that period, 26 countries enacted formal statutes guaranteeing their citizens’ right of access to government information. Japan’s LDP-led national parliament squeezed in just before the door of that decade closed. Japan’s information disclosure law took effect on April 1, 2001, a little more than five months before terrorists struck the World Trade Center in New York. Information disclosure laws pose a simple question: “Can the law require that power holders exercise their power in the open, visible to all? In other words, can the people see the truth? Do the people have a ‘right to know’ about the actions of government?”".. Read more → http://apjjf.org/2017/20/Repeta.htmlapjjf.org
Backstory to Abe’s Snap Election – the Secrets of Moritomo, Kake and the “Missing” Japan SDF Activity Logs | The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
29 Apr 2015 ·
· NEW: Yoshifumi Tawara, The Abe Government and the 2014 Screening of Japanese Junior High School History Textbooks Translation by Sven Saaler, Introduction by Asia-Pacific Journal "School textbooks constitute one significant arena in which dominant, oppositional, and alternative forces in society contest the past to shape the future. Textbook controversies can be a sign of democracy—or they can indicate efforts to suppress democracy. As Tawara Yoshifumi meticulously documents, recently announced results of the Japanese government’s school textbook screening show clearly the Abe administration’s success in imposing its views of such controversial issues as the forced prostitution of the wartime Japanese military (the ianfu or ‘comfort women’) and the Nanjing Massacre, as well as territorial disputes with China and Korea, nations that Japan colonized or invaded in the first half of the twentieth century. ... ... Prime Minister Abe has been the champion of the rightwing nationalists for the last two decades. In 1993, with the LDP out of power, Hosokawa Morihiro of the Japan New Party made the first clear-cut admission of the Asia-Pacific War as a “war of aggression” by a postwar Japanese prime minister. In response, Abe, then a newly elected Diet member succeeding his late father, played a key role in establishing (and subsequently directing) an LDP committee to attack school textbook content, promote revisionist views on the war, and deny the existence of the Nanjing Massacre and jugun-ianfu (“comfort women going with the army”)..... Since then, he... .... Here, Tawara’s data and analysis are critical. Each revision made may look small, but put them together they reveal the sea change in the neo-nationalist rightwing direction. Tawara’s article makes another important point: while internationally Japan’s textbook controversy has centered on colonialism and war, it involves other controversies such as the massacre of ethnic Koreans in Japan at the time of the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 and the oppression of the Ainu people. This suggests the need for those wishing to redress Japan’s war atrocities to build closer connections with those working to redress ethnic and other social issues central to Japanese democracy. Asia-Pacific Journal" View full translation of the article by Tawara here → http://bit.ly/1DB8dvJThe Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
26 Nov 2014 ·
· …extreme rightists in Japan under the Abe administration. Come to our page and find out what you may be missing in your fb newsfeed. Into Week Three of our annual fundraising campaign, we've passed the $1,000 mark en route to a goal of $12,000. The fund is needed to finance the redesign of our website. We're completing a series of important special issues on Japan's 3.11 disaster, Korea 70 years after division, and endangered islands of the Pacific. Your support is critical to sustaining APJ free and vibrant. APJ is a 501 (c) tax exempt organization, meaning that your U.S. contribution is tax deductible. Please donate here! → http://japanfocus.org/Sustainers
The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
1 May 2015 ·
· …about the events of the war. If Abe expresses ‘deep remorse’, and then neighbouring countries like China and South Korea respond by condemning his words as inadequate and demanding further apologies, most of the English-speaking world will — understandably enough — condemn China and South Korea for pig-headed refusal to let bygones be bygones. But the problem is that Japanese, Chinese and Korean audiences will not hear the word ‘remorse’. What they will hear instead is the actual Japanese word that Abe is expected to use: hansei, or its Chinese or Korean equivalents (fǎnshè/banseong). Hansei can, with a bit of a stretch, be translated as ‘remorse’, but its basic meaning is ‘reflection on’ or ‘reconsideration of’ the past. In Japan this word is used in common speech. If a company gets into trouble for dubious practices, one of its executives will appear on TV news to bow and express his deep hansei, and that is the last that is likely to be heard of the matter. If you are involved in running a conference or a sporting event, this will be followed by a ‘hansei meeting’, where you discuss what went well and what didn’t, and then probably all go off for drinks together. Former prime minister Tomiichi Murayama’s 1995 statement commemorating the 50th anniversary of the end of the war also contained the word hansei, as did former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi’s statement on the 60th anniversary. But the great difference was that, in both statements, this was followed by the word owabi (apology). Murayama and Koizumi not only ‘reflected deeply’ by also, on the basis of that reflection, expressed their feelings of heartfelt apology. If Abe omits the word owabi (as the indications are that he will do), English-speaking audiences will hear the carefully constructed translation ‘remorse’, and think they are hearing a heartfelt apology. But Japanese, Chinese and Korean audiences will hear the resounding absence of the apology that Abe’s predecessors made but he did not...."eastasiaforum.org
Japanese war apologies lost in translation | East Asia Forum
The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
2 Feb 2019 ·
· Reinventing The Japan Times: How Japan’s oldest English-language newspaper tacked right David McNeill and Justin McCurry ..."On November 30th, 2018 The Japan Times waded into the interminable controversy over Japan’s wartime misdeeds with a small editor’s note tacked onto the end of a story about conscript labor. The previous day, South Korea’s Supreme Court had ruled that Mitsubishi Heavy Industries should compensate Korean forced laborers. That followed a similar ruling against Nippon Steel in October. With another dozen lawsuits pending against about 70 Japanese companies, Japan’s most venerable English-language newspaper appeared to question whether these laborers were actually forced to work at all. ... Journalists at the paper describe other more insidious changes that suggest a shift to the right in its political stance, regardless of its management’s claims to the contrary. One senior reporter, known for his sometimes aggressive questioning of Japan’s top spokesman, Suga Yoshihide, was yanked off his beat at the Prime Minister’s Office. Editorials, including one on November 23rd berating the South Korean government for gutting the 2015 “comfort women” agreement, seemed to lean right, away from the paper’s old liberal or at least conciliatory stance. There were notes from the editor nudging staff toward more positive coverage of Abe, and of Japan itself. A journalist described being berated when the word “surrender” appeared in a story about World War 2 (the phrase used for August 15, 1945 in the Japanese media is Shūsen-kinenbi (終戦記念日), or “memorial day for the end of the war.” Columnists, some speaking off the record, have noted that their work is being edited more vigorously than before in an apparent attempt to take some of the sting out of criticism of Japan. .. There were explicit denials of direct government interference or of ties to the radical right. Some staffers noted Mizuno’s friendship with Hori Yoshito, the Harvard-educated CEO of Globis Capital Partners and Management School. Hori is also a former director of the Japan Institute for National Fundamentals, the same conservative think-tank Sakurai runs. Both are considered close to Nippon Kaigi, Japan’s most powerful rightwing lobby." .. ..."The New York Times, with which The Japan Times has had a publishing agreement since 2013, has not publicly commented" (on the controversy).. Read more → https://apjjf.org/2019/03/McNeill.html #PressFreedom Reporters sans frontières / Reporters Without Borders / RSF The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan
The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
17 Apr 2015 ·
· NEW: Jeff Kingston, Testy Team Abe Pressures Media in Japan "In an April 2, 2015 essay in the Number One Shimbun published by the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan, veteran German journalist Carsten Germis shares his experiences of being harassed by the Japanese government basically for doing his job (http://bit.ly/1yxNAEj). In his view, the Abe government is overly sensitive to criticism and responds aggressively in trying to suppress such views. Team Abe has been especially sensitive to criticism about what Germis terms, “a move by the right to whitewash history.” Germis served in Tokyo from 2010-15, but I only met him once very briefly and have not read his articles in German, so am not in a position to judge the content or analysis, but his allegations of government meddling with the press are serious. Officials everywhere get testy about negative coverage and Japan is certainly not the only country where journalists are singled out for harassment. Journalists who have worked in China have many stories to tell about intrusive monitoring and restrictions that make reporting the news in Japan seem relatively easy and pleasant. But everyone knows that China is not democratic and doesn't tolerate a free press while it is generally assumed Japan does. Perhaps even more than in Japan, the South Korean government is also cracking down on the media, singling out critics of Park Geun-hye, demonstrating yet again how these ‘frenemies’ are more alike than either one cares to admit. The intolerance towards criticism is based on the erroneous belief that all criticism of Japanese government actions equals anti-Japanese sentiment. There is also a presumption that journalists are “guests” who should be polite to their hosts while scholars who take Japanese research money also risk being labeled traitors if they express critical views. In 21st century Japan, there is far too much official paranoia that all criticism of Japan is aiding and abetting China and Korea. In these times those who criticize Abe are often accused of Japan-bashing and venality. ...." Read Kingston's full article here → http://bit.ly/1yxMfx8)
The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
19 Apr 2013 ·
· …"Yet Another Lost Decade? Whither Japan's North Korea Policy under Abe Shinzo"japanfocus.org
Yet Another Lost Decade? Whither Japan’s North Korea Policy under Abe Shinzō...
The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
18 Jun 2015 ·
· …with the continuing failure of the Abe government to move towards full resolution of the issues of colonialism, and especially of the exploitation and brutalizing of women, a group of Japanese historians, researchers, literary figures, editors, lawyers and social activists in June 2015 issued a new “Statement by Intellectuals in Japan on Japan-Korea Historical Problems.” That too follows below, in Japanese and Korean as well as English translation." .. In this piece, we present: 1) The 2015 Statement by Intellectuals in Japan on Japan-Korea Historical Problems, in English, Japanese, and Korean 2) The Recommendations to the Government of Japan for Resolution of the Comfort Women issue adopted in June 2014 (and cited in the 2015 Document), in English, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese 3) The 2010 “Joint Statement by Japanese and Korean Intellectuals on the 100th Anniversary of the Annexation of Korea,” in English, Japanese, and Korean View the full article here → http://bit.ly/1KZSdKw
The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
11 Aug 2019 ·
· …Korea summit. Trump immediately responded by accepting. It was 8 March. Abe was doubly shocked: first that President Moon Jae-in had seized the Initiative and was working to negotiate a meeting between Trump and Kim, and second that, without so much as a word to himself, his ally and friend, Trump had responded to Chairman Kim’s proposal by agreeing to a summit meeting. That was an even bigger shock.".. Read more → https://apjjf.org/2019/15/Wada.html
The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
6 Oct 2014 ·
· Jeff Kingston weighs in on manga/anime One Piece controversy in South Korea: Manga, the Rising Sun and Abe’s history problem → http://bit.ly/1vEhXlA via The Japan Times
The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
26 Apr 2015 ·
· …of Japan’s friends think Abe has to go beyond sincerity. “Mr. Abe is giving Japan’s foreign policy its most extensive face-lift since Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida,” wrote Columbia University professor Gerald Curtis in The Wall Street Journal. “But there is something missing here, and that is … empathy and boldness to bring about reconciliation with China and Korea.”....."Abe primed to shine in Washington's limelight | The Japan Times
The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
20 Jan 2015 ·
· …nomination at a time when the Abe administration moves to abolish Article 9. View the article through this link: http://bit.ly/1ujxWoc Alexis Dudden is Professor of History at the University of Connecticut and an Asia-Pacific Journal contributing editor. She is the author of Troubled Apologies Among Japan, Korea, and the United States http://amzn.to/1wmTaBp and Japan's Colonization of Korea: Discourse and Power http://amzn.to/1wmTcck Nobelprize.org; Global Article 9 Campaign; GPPAC Northeast Asia; 「憲法９条にノーベル平和賞を」実行委員会; 解釈で憲法９条を壊すな！実行委員会
The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
23 Sep 2014 ·
· …energy initiatives despite the Abe administration's continuing push for the dirty nuclear against the public opinion. Roger Pulvers reflects on Lafcadio Hearn, also known as Koizumi Yakumo, a great explorer, author, anthropologist and adventurer - on the 110th anniversary of his death. He married a Japanese woman and was buried in Japan. Two articles offer further historical insights into the Zainichi experience of Koreans in postwar Japan: Misook Lee traces the rise of Japan-Korea solidarity movements in the 1970's and 1980's; Shota Ogata discusses little-known history of Korean film companies in the Occupied Japan after WWII betewen 1945 and 1952. As always, please interact with this post and the four new articles we just posted to beat the facebook news feed algorithm that limits/censors our post reach to you all! Thank you & have a great week!
The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
31 Mar 2018 ·
· …Against these backdrops, the second Abe Shinzō government started its economic policies, proclaimed as Abenomics, in an effort “to sustainably revive the Japanese economy” that was promised to trickle-down to all. Five years on, evaluations have taken place on the Abe program centered on hyper monetary easing, fiscal stimuli, and structural reform. This article introduces data and assessment by Inoue Shin of the Japan Federation of National Service Employees who “visually” presents some of the key facts and figures of Abenomics with regard to the working poor, real wages, labor share, and more, drawing primarily on government documents. In January 2018, the Cabinet Office updated a report that claims exceptional progress in light of nominal GDP, corporate profits, number of employed persons, and tax revenue. If, however, evaluation is based on targets determined by policy makers and experts in the international community (particularly the United Nations), Abenomics falls rather short of progress towards shared prosperity. As Joseph E. Stiglitz and others warn in the Stockholm Statement: “GDP growth is not an end in itself,” “but a means to creating the resources needed to achieve a range of societal objectives, which include improved health, education, employment, security, as well as consumption. ..according to the Cabinet report, corporate profits reached a record-high increase of ¥26.5 trillion from ¥48.5 trillion in 2012 to ¥75.0 trillion in 2016. In sharp contrast .., Japanese workers’ earnings, in nominal terms, declined by ¥160,000 from ¥4.08 million in 2012 to ¥3.92 million in 2016 (Figure 2.2). Simultaneously, with the upward trend in corporate profits since 2001, there has been a continuous downward trend in the real salaries/wages index since 1997 when it reached its peak. .. .. the Cabinet Office estimates that the number of employed persons has increased by 1.9 million (including 1.5 million women workers), thanks to Abe’s pro-growth policies. However, a Health Ministry survey shows that the main increase lies in irregular workers (2.07 million) from 2012 to 2016, compared to regular workers (220,000). The increased numbers of employees has not coincided with better-paying positions or greater security. To the contrary, low-paid irregular workers account for nearly 40% of the entire labor force in 2017 (compared with 15.3% in 1984 before deregulation), while Japan’s minimum wage is the lowest among 19 advanced economies: ¥798 per hour (on average for FY 2016)... ..Tomioka Yukio, emeritus professor of Chuo University, points out that Japan’s effective corporate tax rate (taken as the average rate at which a business is taxed on earned income) appears to be above the averages (as of 2014) 17% in Singapore, 23% in the UK, and 24.2% in the special district of Seoul, South Korea. This does not, however, mean that corporations actually pay at these levels. Tomioka discusses large corporate tax avoidance, in which many corporations pay typically around 20%, and some even as low as 1%. For example, the effective corporate tax rate (as of 2014) was 0.001% for Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, 0.003% for SoftBank, and 6.91% for Fast Retailing, otherwise known for Uniqlo. Osawa Mari of the University of Tokyo notes that Japan’s distributions of tax burdens and tax benefits are the least progressive among the OECD. In other words, government transfers, which are normally redistributed to low-income groups through social security benefits, work in reverse. By contrast, at least until the late 80s, Japan, like OECD peers, had a progressive income tax system (high tax on high income earners), which made it possible to expand its welfare state...." Read more → https://apjjf.org/2018/6/INOUE.htmlapjjf.org
Inequality and Precarity in Japan: The Sorry Achievements of Abenomics | The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
ay 2015 ·
· …an investigation into ‘anti-Japanese’ rhetoric in Korea — two moves that suggest little commitment to the task of eradicating hate speech in Japan. Prime Minister Abe has publicly stated that ‘it is totally wrong to slander and defame people of other nations and hold the feeling that we are somehow superior. That would only lead to dishonouring ourselves’. But to give life to such statements, Japan needs much stronger and more effective strategies to celebrate ethnic and cultural diversity, and protect social justice."eastasiaforum.org
Still a way to go for Japanese minorities | East Asia Forum
The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
27 Dec 2014 ·
· …country’s aging, shrinking population. Now Abe was calling a halt. “Japan is not, and will never be, a tier-two country,” he said. His bold interventionism won the support of America’s liberal economic intelligentsia, who seemed content to overlook Abe’s political hawkishness and hard rightwing take on Japan’s war history. Abenomics would “give Japan a much-needed boost and the rest of us an even more-needed antidote to policy lethargy,” crooned Paul Krugman in The New York Times. In the same newspaper, Joseph Stiglitz called Abenomics a “huge step in the right direction.” Japan may have quite a lot to teach us, he wrote. ..The growing wealth gap under Abe emboldened those who said his policies were leaving all but the rich behind; the number of millionaires surged by over 20 percent in 2013, according to the Nikkei business newspaper. Many of the smaller and mid-sized companies that form the bedrock of the economy were suffering: four-fifths said the yen was too high. “It is clear that Abenomics has not had any positive impact on people’s lives at all,” concluded Banri Kaieda, head of the Democratic Party of Japan, the largest opposition party. Such criticism began to bite. Even before the release of those shock GDP figures, the government’s poll ratings were sliding, largely thanks to its unpopular decision to ramp up state secrecy and challenge Japan’s pacifist constitution. If Abe had one thing in his favor, however, it was Japan’s divided, demoralized opposition. The solution seemed clear: call an election he couldn’t lose... ... ...Abe’s revisionist instincts and rejection of what the political right in Japan calls “apology diplomacy” for the nation’s wartime misdeeds have complicated what was already a fractious relationship. Washington bears some responsibility here. It wants the “good” Abe, the hawk who will deepen military ties with its US military partner, but not the whitewasher of history who enrages much of Asia, especially joint ally South Korea. The two Abes, however, cannot be separated... ... ..Abe seems likely, therefore, to push ahead with the sales tax rise and cut corporate taxes, another pledge to world markets (Japan’s effective corporate tax of 35.6 percent is roughly double the rate in Singapore and Hong Kong). But without growth and wage increases, Japan’s wealth gap will widen and his popularity may slump. His next term will be dominated by discussion about the third, and least aerodynamic, of Abe’s three arrows — his long-promised reforms. Does Abe have the stamina to boost the female workforce, lower the drawbridge to immigration and face down the Keidanren and Japan’s energy and medical lobbies? Will he really push a long-delayed trade deal with America over the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) that brings him into direct conflict with the LDP’s bedrock support among farmers? Not a few have pointed to the contradiction of this great reform project being led by the head of the party that helped build up Japan’s sclerotic business structure in the first place. Unless he challenges Japan Inc., however, Abenomics looks very much like more of the LDP’s old spend-and-pump economics, garnished by Abe’s dangerous nostalgia for Japan’s big-power status. .." http://www.globalasia.org/article/blowing-up-japans-economy-to-save-it-abenomics-two-years-on/globalasia.org
Blowing Up Japan’s Economy to Save it: Abenomics Two Years On | Global Asia
The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
28 Feb 2015 ·
· …and ensure that China and South Korea aren’t the only ones controlling the narrative. This lavishly funded PR program more than triples the strategic communications budget over last year’s ¥20 billion, essentially an admission that Japan has been losing the international war of words — and thus global support for its positions — during Abe’s tenure. Given that Seoul and Beijing have been playing hardball in getting their sides of the story out, Tokyo is responding in kind. .."japantimes.co.jp
Japan's public diplomacy is expensive and errant | The Japan Times
The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
9 Jul 2014 ·
· …believe that Abe is more of a threat to Japan than China or North Korea. Has Abe hijacked democracy in Japan by renouncing Article 9 and the nation's pacifist postwar order?apjjf.org
Self-immolation Protests PM Abe Overturning Japan’s Pacifist Postwar Order | The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
8 Dec 2017 ·
· …with Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo as if he and Mr. Abe wished to show this visit was nothing but an expression of peaceful friendship. They talked about the North Korean issue for “a great deal of time”. The content of their talks was not disclosed. In the final press conference after the Summit Prime Minister Abe stated that he and President Trump “were in complete agreement as to the measures to be taken upon the analysis of the latest situation of North Korea”. He said, “Japan consistently supports the position of President Trump when he says that all options are on the table. Through the talks over two days, I once again strongly reaffirmed that Japan and U. S. are 100 percent together”. What is the target? Abe said that they completely agreed to “enhance the pressure to a maximum level over North Korea through all possible means” in order to make North Korea abandon their nuclear program." .. Read more → http://apjjf.org/2017/23/Wada.htmlThe Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
8 Jun 2015 ·
· …education and history... ... "So far, Abe has been a disappointment on history issues during this 70th anniversary year of the end of World War II, because he has been evasive and ambiguous about embracing responsibility for Japan’s wartime actions in Asia where the bitter legacies remain divisive. This “Abenesia” tarnishes Japan’s international reputation while antagonizing China and South Korea. ... "The prime minister is putting his personal agenda on history ahead of the national interest and therefore not meeting the test of statesmanship. ... "[The] cavalier “s—t happens” attitude toward the comfort women system undermines Japan’s dignity and represents another step backward. Hopefully, a cure for Abenesia will be found before Aug.15."japantimes.co.jp
History is harsh unless you erase it | The Japan Times
The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
18 May 2015 ·
· …can carry placards depicting Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as Adolf Hitler?".......japantimes.co.jp
Are forces of darkness gathering in Japan? | The Japan Times
The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
15 Jul 2019 ·
· This article on Critical Asian Studies by Jeff Kingston may be of our readers' interest. Take a look while the paper is kept open access for a limited time. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14672715.2019.1627889tandfonline.com
Japanese revisionists’ meddling backfires
47Susan Menadue-Chun and 46 others
The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
4 Mar 2014 ·
· Tessa Morris-Suzuki "Addressing Japan's 'Comfort Women' Issue from an Academic Standpoint " #warcrime #japanjapanfocus.org
Addressing Japan’s ‘Comfort Women’ Issue From an Academic Standpoint 日本の「慰安婦」問題に学術的観点から対処するとは |...
The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
5 Sep 2012 ·
· Tessa Morris-Suzuki "Out With Human Rights, In With Government-Authored History: The Comfort Women and the Hashimoto Prescription for a ‘New Japan’" −−「人権は外、政府作の歴史は内−−慰安婦と橋下の「新日本」構想」apjjf.org
Out With Human Rights, In With Government-Authored History: The Comfort Women and the Hashimoto Prescription for a ‘New Japan’ | The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
30 Jul 2015 ·
· …of a decades-old war. Under the Abe regime, foreign ministry officials have been mobilized to pressure international media as well as a US textbook publisher and author in an effort to set the historical facts straight and restore Japan’s honor. It is precisely such self-serving deception that Yoshikata Veki’s article, translated here, demolishes by tracking coverage of the issue in the Korean press. The evidence is specific and irrefutable: Korean concern about “comfort women,” as revealed in the press, antedates coverage in the Asahi (and for that matter, other Japanese papers) by decades. It is worth singling out two details in Yoshikata’s work that address revisionist “talking points”: it further* demonstrates the insignificance of the role of Yoshida Seiji, whose controversial testimony has been formally repudiated by the Asahi, in inciting Korean awareness and (2) attests that “comfort women” and “teishintai” (volunteer corps) were used interchangeably (“confused,” in Yoshida’s words)." .... Read more → http://bit.ly/1ONKKhW Cc: The Foreign Correspondents' Club Of Japan （社団法人 日本外国特派員協会）; Wam アクティブ・ミュージアム「女たちの戦争と平和資料館」
The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
17 Jul 2013 ·
· Tessa Morris-Suzuki ”The Re-Branding of #Abe #Nationalism: Global Perspectives 安倍ナショナリズムの再ブランド化 グローバルな視点からの検討" #japanapjjf.org
The Re-Branding of Abe Nationalism: Global Perspectives on Japan | The Asia-Pacific Journal:...
The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
11 Jul 2013 ·
· Sato Manabu, translated by Michiko Hase "The Marines Will Not Defend the Senkakus 海兵隊は尖閣を守るつもりはない"japanfocus.org
The Marines Will Not Defend the Senkakus 海兵隊は尖閣を守るつもりはない :: JapanFocus
The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
29 Jan 2013 ·
· …and Textbooks Japan Network 21," "The Abe Cabinet - an Ideological Breakdown"The Abe Cabinet - An Ideological Breakdown | The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
26 Feb 2013 ·
· …Morris-Suzuki, "Freedom of Hate Speech; Abe Shinzo and Japan's Public Sphere"japanfocus.org
Freedom of Hate Speech; Abe Shinzo and Japan's Public Sphere ヘイトスピーチ（憎悪発言）の自由ー安倍晋三と日本の公共空間 ::...
The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
25 Dec 2012 ·
· Gavan McCormack "Abe Days Are Here Again: Japan in the World" |「再び安倍の天下−世界の中での日本」japanfocus.org
Abe Days Are Here Again: Japan in the World 再び安倍の天下−−世界の中での日本 :: JapanFocus
The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
21 Feb 2013 ·
· HOT: Alexis Dudden, "Bullying and History Don't Mix"japanfocus.org
Bullying and History Don't Mix いじめと歴史は相容れない :: JapanFocus
The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
13 Mar 2019 ·
· Reinventing the Japan Times: How Japan’s oldest English-language newspaper tacked right: UPDATED David McNeill and Justin McCurry ... the Reuters article .. confirms The Japan Times traded its integrity and journalistic ethics for government money and access to Abe. .... .. Japan Times Editors’ Open Letter February 25, 2019 by TozenAdmin On Nov. 30, 2018, the Executive Editorial Committee at The Japan Times published an Editor’s Note announcing changes in the way the newspaper would describe both the so-called comfort women and wartime forced laborers recruited before and during World War II to work for Japanese companies. Under the former style, the comfort women were described as “women who were forced to provide sex for Japanese troops before and during World War II.” Under the new style, they were to be referred to as “women who worked in wartime brothels, including those who did so against their will, to provide sex to Japanese soldiers.” In addition, the note said that those who were previously described as “forced laborers” would now be referred to as “wartime laborers.” The Executive Editorial Committee attempted to justify both these changes with the reasoning that the recruitment and experiences of members of these groups “varied.” Tozen Union and its Japan Times General Workers Union chapter strongly oppose these editorial changes. Both changes were pushed through with total disregard for the input of knowledgeable writers and editors, with zero advance notice, and the changes also show a disturbing disregard for the mainstream historical record. As a result, The Japan Times is now perceived publicly as trying to downplay the suffering of the comfort women and forced laborers; of putting political considerations above fair, balanced and truthful reporting; and of toeing the Japanese government’s line for commercial gain. The changes have harmed The Japan Times in terms of its reputation, and this has had a direct effect on JTGWU members’ working conditions, affecting everything from morale to working hours and stress levels. The impact of the new editorial stance on perceptions of the paper’s integrity, as well as that of those who work there, has resulted in difficulties for staff writers and editors working with sources on stories, and in commissioning stories from outside contributors. In collective bargaining, the JTGWU and Tozen have demanded a full retraction of the editorial policy changes as well as prior consultation on future changes of this magnitude. The union has proposed that 1) The Japan Times apologizes for the Editor’s Note and reverts to the previous style on comfort women and wartime forced laborers; 2) that the JTGWU has representation on both committees involved in drafting such style changes in future; and 3) that the union be given one month’s notice for consultation before such changes are implemented in future, including the right to delay changes if the union feels they haven’t been properly discussed. The company has yet to agree to any of these proposals. .... Read more, scroll down for updates → https://apjjf.org/2019/03/McNeill-Kingston.html The Japan Times The New York Timesapjjf.org
Reinventing the Japan Times: How Japan’s oldest English-language newspaper tacked right: Updated | The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
3 May 2015 ·
· Congratulations to Jon Mitchell for winning Lifetime Achievement Award of the The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan's first Freedom of the Press Awards for reporting on Okinawa, notably the US use of Agent Orange in Okinawa and the role of Okinawa in the Vietnam War, with much of that work appearing at Asia-Pacific Journal. Below is the link to the pdf press release from the Club announcing the winners. Reading it will take you to a trip down the memory lane of the past year. Koichi Nakano at Sophia University won Friends of the Free Press Award. Jake Adelstein is the committee chair of Freedom of the Press at FCCJ. Thank you to all the journalist colleagues in Japan for your dedication and excellent works!fccj.or.jp
The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
19 Apr 2013 ·
· Herbert P. Bix, "Japan Under Neonationalist, Neoliberal Rule: Moving Toward an Abyss?"japanfocus.org
Japan Under Neonationalist, Neoliberal Rule: Moving Toward an Abyss?...
The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
3 Jan 2017 ·
· …Major General John K. Singlaub, U.S. Forces Korea Chief of Staff at the time, publicly criticized Carter’s proposed withdrawal and CIA Director Stansfield Turner privately expressed misgivings. It was never implemented. Retired Admiral Gene R. Laroque, Director of the Center for Defense Information, also favored U.S. troop withdrawal from South Korea. And he advocated closing U.S. bases in Okinawa as strategically unnecessary and fiscally wasteful. Chalmers Johnson, a former CIA consultant and later Director of the Japan Policy Research Institute, has written that South Korea “is twice as populous [as North Korea], infinitely richer, and fully capable of defending itself.” Johnson also explained why “defending Korea” and “defending Japan” are false rationales for perpetuating the oppressive burden of U.S. bases in Okinawa, documenting the many atrocities committed by U.S. forces there, even after its reversion from U.S. military occupation to Japanese administration in 1972. After an 18-month crisis during which North Korea announced its intention to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the U.S. and the DPRK signed the Agreed Framework on October 22, 1994. It committed North Korea to freeze operation and construction of nuclear reactors suspected of being part of a covert nuclear weapons program in exchange for two proliferation-resistant nuclear power reactors. The agreement also committed the United States to supply North Korea with fuel oil pending construction of the reactors.5 In June, 2000 South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung met North Korean leader Kim Jung-Il in Pyongyang for the June, 2000 “Sunshine Summit,” That same month U.S. President Bill Clinton moved further toward rapprochement, easing long-standing sanctions against the DPRK imposed under the Trading with the Enemy Act. Secretary of State Madelaine Albright traveled to Pyongyang in October for talks with the Kim Jung-Il government to prepare for a Clinton visit, and North Korean officials met with Clinton at the White House. According to an October 23 report in The Guardian, “South Korean officials welcomed [Albright’s] visit. . . Kim [Jung-Il] has shown surprising willingness to reciprocate Mr. Clinton's moves to seek an accommodation between the two countries.” Everything seemed on track for the establishment of diplomatic relations until the 2000 presidential election when a Supreme Court ruling gave George W. Bush the win over Vice President Al Gore. Clinton then got cold feet and declared he would leave the final decision on the reestablishment of diplomatic relations up to the next president. The Bush-Cheney administration promptly killed the initiative, declared North Korea and Iraq to be 2/3 of an axis of evil, and invaded Iraq two years later forcing “regime change.” In a likely response, the #DPRK proceeded to manufacture nuclear weapons. Thus ended prospects for a rapprochement. As for the dangers of another war on the Korean Peninsula, Taoka Shunji argues in the article below that, if U.S. forces left Japan, North Korea would have no more reason to target them with missiles. Taoka also points out that withdrawing U.S. forces in Japan would relieve Okinawa of its disproportionate burden of bases, though his proposal to move the Marines in #Okinawa to a Japan Ground Self Defense Forces base on the mainland seems unrealistic, considering the Japanese government's insistence on keeping the Marines in Okinawa. In mentioning the possibility of the U.S. imposing even greater costs on Japan for U.S. forces stationed there, Taoka refers to Donald J. Trump’s complaint during his campaign that the Japanese government doesn’t pay enough for them. In fact, judging from what Trump said, he seemed unaware of the approximately 557 billion yen (4.8 billion dollars) Japanese taxpayers are already shelling out (so to speak) every year. This is perhaps another of his campaign assertions he will disavow as president. If not, and Trump does in fact demand more money from Japan, Taoka invites him to play his “#Trump card” so Japan can let America pull out its military. SR Read more → http://apjjf.org/2017/01/Taoka.html Cc: Peace Philosophy Centre I Oppose the Expansion of US Bases in Okinawaapjjf.org
Trump's Threat to Charge Japan More for U.S. Forces: Taoka Shunji says “Let them leave.” | The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
12 Mar 2013 ·
· Mikyoung Kim, "Human Rights, Memory and Reconciliation: Korea-Japan Relations"japanfocus.org
Human Rights, Memory and Reconciliation: Korea-Japan Relations 人権、記憶、和解ー韓日関係 :: JapanFocus
The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
23 Apr 2014 ·
· New: Comments by Alexis Dudden on nomination of #Article9 of Japan's Constitution for Nobel Peace Prize http://ow.ly/w2qcBjapanfocus.org
The Nomination of Article 9 of Japan's Constitution for a Nobel Peace Prize 日本国憲法第9条ノーベル平和章候補に...
The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
5 Mar 2013 ·
· Sakurai Kunitoshi with an introduction by Gavan McCormack, "Okinawans Facing a Year of Trial: the Okinawa-Japan-US Relationship and the East China Sea"japanfocus.org
Okinawans Facing a Year of Trial: the Okinawa-Japan-US Relationship and the East China Sea...
The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
11 May 2015 ·
· …on the recent open letter to the Abe administration signed by 187 scholars, in an interview conducted via email with a Hankyoreh Washington correspondent. He discusses the recent tensions in East Asia over historical reconciliation, and the US role in the region.english.hani.co.kr
[Interview] Bruce Cumings: “Washington has always preferred Tokyo over Seoul”
The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
26 Feb 2018 ·
· …the Henoko base construction cause that the Abe government has sought to claim. ..." Read more → https://apjjf.org/2018/4/McCormack.html Cc: Peace Philosophy Centre I Oppose the Expansion of US Bases in Okinawaapjjf.org
Five Okinawan Views on the Nago Mayoral Election of February 2018: Implications for Japanese Democracy | The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
25 Apr 2016 ·
· …of Okinawa. In response to North Korea's prior announcement of the satellite launch, the Japanese government issued a "ballistic missile destruction order" to the Self Defense Forces. Three Aegis destroyers were deployed in the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea. Also land-based Patriot PAC-3 batteries were put on alert in the Tokyo metropolitan area and in Okinawa's main island. In addition, PAC-3 fire units were dispatched to two remote islands of Okinawa prefecture because the anticipated trajectory of the North Korean "missile" was close to those islands. But if the launch proceeded as planned, the altitude of the rocket would be more than 400 km above the islands. There is no legal basis for shooting down a rocket flying in outer space, which is outside of Japanese territorial air space. Furthermore, PAC-3 cannot reach such a target, as its maximum altitude is a mere 15 km. ..." Read more → http://bit.ly/1SXPXU9Japanese Government Misinformation On North Korea’s Rocket Launch | The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
11 May 2017 ·
· …High Altitude Area Defense (#THAAD) in South Korea in April 2017, citing North Korea’s nuclear and missile “threats” as justification. Its deployment, however, needs to be seen in the wider strategic context. Not only does the measure raise the arms race with North Korea, it also facilitates Japan’s “proactive contribution to peace” and exacerbates the security dilemma between the U.S. and its allies on one side and China and Russia on the other. Read the article → http://apjjf.org/2017/09/Suh.htmlMissile Defense and the Security Dilemma: THAAD, Japan’s “Proactive Peace,” and a Global Arms Race in Northeast Asia | The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
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