Early Warning or Exaggeration

Ministry of Defense released annual report on defense of Japan, called Defense White Paper 2015. It focused on growing military power of China around Japan, as if Japan was surrounded by threat from the continental great power. While the main concern in the white paper is “unexpected accident” by Chinese advance, Shinzo Abe administration has not established close communication to avoid it. What it is doing is unnecessary reinterpretation of the constitution.

The white paper argues that China is promoting major landfill around Spratly Islands in South China Sea, and border invasion of Chinese official ships is getting routinized around Senkaku Islands of Japan. In appendix, the paper included China’s development of natural gas in East China Sea, receiving request of Defense Policy Council of Liberal Democratic Party. It also introduced that China has been developing aircraft with “extremely extra-speed of sound” to penetrate missile defense system.

Prime Minister Abe has been exaggerating deterioration of security environment around Japan. It was likely that the true purpose of the white paper was to endorse personal conviction of Abe. A member of LDP Defense Policy Council explained the purpose of the white paper as urging Japanese people to think why security legislature is needed now. In other words, Abe administration is exaggerating threat around Japan to educate innocent Japanese people.

According to the explanation of Abe, new security legislation is to enhance ability to protect life and property of Japanese people. If China advances to Japan, defensive action of Japan can be took as genuine individual defense. If Japan wants to protect United States helping Japan, it can do it in a concept of individual self-defense.

But, if Japan helps U.S. in Middle East to assure U.S. support in contingency around Japan, U.S. will not fulfill its demand as long as it will be something like struggle over small rocks called Senkaku. U.S. government has simply saying that Article 5 of U.S.-Japan Security Treaty will be applied to Senkaku. It is not clear whether America recognizes Senkaku as Japan.

Response of China against the white paper was immediate. A spokesman of Chinese Foreign Ministry expressed “strong insufficiency and firm opposition.” “Japan is exaggerating threat of China with malice and creating tension,” he said.

After all, Abe is creating insecurity with his insistence on reinterpretation of constitution. What Abe wants to do is to get rid of curse of America that imposed a pacifist 

New Development in East China Sea

Government of Japan revealed the fact that the Chinese had been continuing development of natural gas in the East China Sea. The location was slightly on the Chinese side of centerline between Japan and China, which was drawn by Japanese government. Japanese government claimed that China’s behavior was a violation of an agreement for joint development in 2008. However, it had known about the development at least two years ago. True intention of the delayed announcement is questioned.

Japan drew a border line against China, which is located at the center between the coasts of both countries. But China unilaterally asserted another line along with the edge of seabed attached to Chinese mainland. China argues as if whole seabed, often rich in natural resources, along with it is theirs.

The government of Japan uploaded on its official webpage photographs of sixteen Chinese wells settled on the surface of East China Sea. They are four wells already existed and other twelve that had newly been constructed after June 2013. As shown in the pictures, they have large crane machine or heliport at the top. “It is regrettable that the Chinese unilaterally develop natural resources,” told Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yoshihide Suga, in a press conference.

A big question is why Japanese government revealed Chinese unilateral development at this timing. The Japanese government had recognized three new wells in 2013, additional five in 2014 and other four this year. It would be necessary for Japanese government to open the information to Japanese public, if it realized the importance of the development in the bilateral relationship.

One possible reason was to shift the public eyes from highly controversial new security legislation. It is likely that Japanese government revealed the information to justify their reinterpretation of the pacifist clause of Constitution of Japan by stressing Chinese advance to East China Sea. “We decided on various consideration of the fact that Chinese development has yet ceased, and growing concern on Chinese unilateral change of status quo inside and outside of Japan,” told Suga, asked whether the government intended to appeal necessity of new security legislation.

Regardless the intention of Japanese government, it is China to be blamed first. The development is apparent violation of a bilateral agreement. One of the general principles of international law is not to build permanent facility in a sea area in which border is not clearly drawn. It is possible that the Chinese are going to settle military equipments on accumulation of facts. As in South China Sea, China is going forward on the road of isolation.

Employer’s Pressure to Student

As a negative impact of government-made economic growth, Japanese companies are positively making contract for employment with graduating college students this year. To secure smart human resources, managers are putting pressure to the students they have selected not to be filed in other companies. To counter those managers, students started criticizing companies as harassing young people.

In the time of high economic growth, as called bubble economy, Japanese companies were so aggressive in hiring graduating students. To keep brilliant senior college students in hand, firms made every effort to enclose them, including foreign travel in Hawaii or other summer resorts. It has been a typical tendency of employment in Japan, when companies are accumulating profits.

Enjoying temporary benefits falling down from Abenomics, companies in Japan are getting assertive in securing students. National government advised private firms not to make early contract for employment with students to avoid disturbing study in the last year in their college life. However, the effort of students to get the job is getting long after the government urged late recruiting.

In the process of searching job, students face various pressures from companies that they filed for a job. There are a lot of examples in which companies disturbed job searching of students. They include demanding the students to sign in a document that promises no further effort to search jobs after getting unofficial approval for assignment, making no contract with other companies a condition for hiring, dismissing all offers from other company by phone under the watch of human resource’s officer or demanding to attend monthly meetings for students having unofficial approval from the company.

After long period of labor market in which companies have been superior to job seekers in colleges, employers are aggressive in hiring new workers. But now, students have multiple requests of hiring from companies. They call the company’s behavior Owa-hara, an abbreviation of Oware, meaning demand of finishing job search, and harassment. Incompetent companies are more serious about keeping good students to hire than excellent corporations. It is fair to say that students are tired of unilateral job offers from companies, calling their behavior harassment. It is Japanese companies, which need to review their job offer.

Missed SOS

Suicide of a low teenager broadly shocked the people in Japan. It was no about how or why he killed himself, but why his teacher could not help him, in spite of consecutive SOS being arrived from him. His classmates also had been recognized his isolation, but did nothing for him. School in Japan is not a safe and happy place for kids.

A thirteen-year-old mid-school student, Ryo Muramatsu, killed himself, rushing into running train early this month in Yahaba Town, Iwate. Few days after his death, his living will was found, in which he revealed his isolation and suffering from violence. “Want to die,” “I was hit and choked in my neck,” or “No call from my teacher. It was a message for help,” were some of the keywords in his letter.

The school had decided to collect information about the relationship among the students several times a year. However, the teachers could not find out what was going on around Muramatsu. Principal of the school attributed the responsibility to a class teacher of Muramatsu, saying “There was no report about him, and it was the class teacher who had read the note of Muramatsu.”

In the “Life Recording Report” of Muramatsu, he wrote that the had reached a tipping point and could not stand it, to which the class teacher made no reply. When he wrote that he determined the place to die, the class teacher replied “Let’s enjoy the school trip tomorrow.” Parents thought her management inappropriate.

It is possible that only the class teacher could save Muramatsu, because he had been appealing about his situation to her. “He had been sending the sign to the teacher, I think he wanted more to be helped by her than me,” told Muramatsu’s father. She had not appeared to the public after the incident was revealed.

The government of Japan has been making efforts to deter suicide with school isolation and bullying. Bullying Prevention and Management Law, enacted two years ago, demands that teacher has to report and share the problem with other teachers in school, when he or she was consulted about problem by student. But as soon as a problem was reported and shared by all teachers, the problem will be hidden to the underground. Government had no remedy for the isolation of kids.

It is the society what has to be reformed to protect life of kids. It is needed that each adult recognizes kids as treasure of their future and thinks about them as if they were their own children. Without change of mind of each member of society, there will no help for isolated students.

Far from Regaining Credibility

House of Councillors again failed to secure its credibility from the people in Japan. Liberal Democratic Party, Innovation Party and other small groups passed a bill for reforming electoral districts to adjust value for a vote, which still ignored large difference between urban and rural region. Although the bill will also be approved in House of Representatives, unconstitutional situation of election system for the Councillors will not be removed, leaving a doubt on the people that the lawmakers are still incompetent.

After long internal controversy, LDP submitted the bill to add ten seats in five prefectures and reduce ten from seven prefectures. This bill introduces new concept that an electoral district can be set beyond the border of prefectures for the first time in post-war democracy in Japan. Tottori and Shimane, as well as Tokushima and Kouchi, will be a single district with two seats in House of Councillors from the next election next year.

The biggest problem of this new system is that it makes little difference from the former one. The biggest value of one vote in rural district is three times greater than the smallest one. Supreme Court of Japan has decided that the difference over two times was unconstitutional. But, some lawmakers in LDP were strongly reluctant in merging prefectures, asserting that the Councillors had been representatives of each prefecture.

The opposite parties were more active in reducing the difference. Democratic Party of Japan submitted a bill to reform twenty prefectures into ten electoral districts, which reduces the difference of one vote to less than two times. LDP’s coalition partner, Komeito, joined DPJ to implement voters’ equality under law. But their bills will be dismissed in both Houses.

The fundamental problem is the fact that House of Councillors has not been working as the representatives of each prefecture as LDP lawmakers argue. Deeply affected by party politics, the House has been highly dependent on the conclusion House of Representatives made, without making no independent decision on their bills. If LDP had wanted to preserve traditional role for representation, they needed to reform to give House of Councillors discretional power.

With growing demand of the public to have equal value in each vote, a tendency of lawmakers of insisting on their vested rights was clearly highlighted. People have been realizing that the politicians were privileged people with stable social status, making laws to pose the people further heavy tax, lazy in making voluntary reform for themselves and making arrogant appearance in town meetings. The failure of election reform will take its toll from them.

TPP Reaching Peak

Negotiation over Trans-Pacific Partnership, a free-trade framework in Asia-Pacific region, is reaching a peak later this month. Twelve parties are having high-level meetings in coming weeks, in which each nation will make deliberated efforts to protect its national interests. There still are some unsolved sections they are struggling. As predicted, United States is leading the negotiation.

The parties started the meeting by head of delegations in Hawaii, which will be followed by ministers meeting later this week. If they can have a comprehensive deal on each section, twelve nations are expected to sign the new framework this fall and TPP will be activated next spring.

Out of all thirty-one sections, seventeen, such as smooth custom process or supports to emerging countries, have been settled. Other two, preface and final notes, will be reconfirmed at the end of negotiation. So there are twelve sections that have not met a goal. Eight out of the twelve, including regulation on procurement in building infrastructure or rules for protecting environment, are expected to see achievements in the meeting by the head of delegations. So, the last four will be the most difficult agenda in TPP, which will be deliberately discussed in the ministers meeting.

The chief agenda will apparently be intellectual property. Receiving strong internal lobbying of pharmacy business, United States requires ten or more years for protecting medical data of brand-new medicines. Emerging countries protest it, asserting five or less years, for easier use of generic medicines. For preference of entertainment businesses like Disney, U.S. requires seventy years for protecting copyright, while Japan or other countries want it to be fifty. The negotiation is reportedly converging into seventy years along with the idea of U.S.

Another focusing point is investment. U.S. prefers to include a rule that a firm can indict foreign government, where it runs its business, when it suffers from unfair regulation. But, some countries including Australia or Japan want to have certain limitation in the rule, concerning consecutive indictment by U.S. companies. On government-owned company, Vietnam and Malaysia require exemptions to protect their own companies.

In the final process of the negotiation, Canada is playing as a wild card. Having general election this fall, Canadian government is showing rigorous attitude on opening its market of dairy foods or poultry. U.S. indicated a possibility of leaving Canada behind for early settlement. If it happens, other nations may have the same behavior. It is still possible that overall framework will miserably be broken down.

New Wave of Media Restructuring

With apparent surprise, Japanese media reported a news that Nikkei would buy Financial Times with large headlines. That was because they believed that they had been excluded from international trend of restructuring in media business with no reliable reason. The news will be a wake up call for Japanese media corporations, especially newspapers, for new era of competition.

The news was reported as an announcement of Pearson, a British major corporation for education or publishing, that it would sell FT with \160 billion to Nikkei. Nikkei would buy not only FT newspaper, but also its web service, magazine and other businesses except stocks of Economist magazine. FT has been seeking the deal with a German media group, too. Pearson would be focusing its business on examination for English efficiency or textbooks.

Asahi Shimbun, which had suffered from scandal over its former reports of comfort woman and losing circulation as its consequence, reported the news at the top of the morning issue of Friday. It continued major report on Saturday that analyzed international trend for media restructuring. According to the report, the restructuring started with the purchase of Dow Jones, holding Wall Street journal, by News Corporation in 2007. Following that, major purchases are ongoing, as seen in Thomson’s buying of Reuters or Washington Post’s belonging to the founder of a web retail giant, Amazon.

Nikkei looks to be satisfied with the purchase. In the press conference, Chiarman of Nikkei, Tsuneo Kita stressed the beneficial side of the purchase. “It is necessary for our growth that concentration to the digital and global. FT is the best partner,” told Kita. FT is one of the most successful news media in digital communication. “FT is brilliant in client management and marketing. It will be very helpful for us,” said Naotoshi Okada, the president of Nikkei.

But as long as the purchase is big, its risk becomes greater. New challenge of Nikkei to seek its business growth in overseas will expose the company to a great international competition. It is possible that Nikkei will be a target of another restructuring by other media giants. There can be a cultural difference between Nikkei and FT in reporting against authoritative powers.

Japanese newspapers are suffering from reduction of circulation these years, not as hard as in United States or Europe. It is likely Nikkei’s purchase will be a litmus test for other major media corporations in Japan to find a way for survival.

Another Assertion of Russia

Prime Minister of Russian Republic, Dmitry Medvedev, revealed his plan to visit Northern Territory of Japan, in a cabinet meeting in Moscow on Thursday. Although he did not announce actual date of it, Medvedev demanded other Ministers to make the visit together. It is obviously a demonstration of Vladimir Putin administration not to make any compromise to Japan on territorial issue in coming events of diplomacy this year.

In the meeting, the cabinet led by Medvedev decided a social and economic development plan for Kuril Islands, including Japanese Northern Territory. “I’m planning to visit there and invite other cabinet members,” told Medvedev in the meeting. He showed determination to develop those islands with 70 billion Russian Ruble for infrastructure and stressed importance of reinforcing troops there for border patrol.

Medvedev visited Japanese Northern Territory in November 2010, when he was the President of Russia. It was the first visit there by Soviet or Russian chief of state. He revisited there in July 2012 as Russian Prime Minister. Japanese government firmly protested to that kind of behavior of Medvedev as putting negative impact on bilateral relationship between Japan and Russia. If he makes another visit, it will be an explicit insult on Japanese sovereignty.

It is likely that Medvedev wanted to show his conviction that those islands were undoubtedly belonging to Russia. Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, has been showing serious hope for inviting Putin to Japan later this year. Medvedev can be frustrated with the possibility of discussion over the territorial issue between those two top leaders.

Putin did not attend the cabinet meeting. Although Putin might not have known his prime minister’s willingness of the visit, it is likely that he has been supporting ambitious attitude over the territorial issue, as long as Putin has not accused Medvedev. Strong standpoint on the issue will be an effective diplomatic card for Putin against Japan in the possible meeting with Abe. The best scenario of Moscow is talking only about economic cooperation with no exchange of opinion on Northern Territory issue.

Japanese government has not responded to another move of Russia. While Abe has carelessly been showing soft attitude to Russia, eagerly inviting Putin to Japan, Russia made stakes high with new policy of banning salmon fishery in Northern Pacific. Although assertive policy of Russia has been making the bilateral relationship complicated, it is Abe’s misunderstanding of international politics, in which Japan has no effective power to make a deal on rivalry between Russia and United States.

New Conditions for Invitation

China looks like going forward to accepting Japanese Prime Minister with some conditions. While Chinese government invited Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to the memorial ceremony of victory against Japan in September, Abe has been negative in participating it. China’s new offer was an alternative way for improving the bilateral relation with Japan. It is still unclear, however, whether Japan can accept those conditions that are mostly intervention to internal politics.

Mainichi Shimbun reported the substance of a meeting between Japanese National Security Adviser, Shotaro Yachi, and Chinese State Councilor, Yang Jiechi, in Beijing last Friday. In the five-hour meeting, they reconfirmed necessity to maintain and develop bilateral dialogue and talked about possibility of meeting by top leaders of both nations.

There is a concern in Chinese public worrying about new security legislature against Chinese advance. Some doubt that the legislature may violate the Treaty of Peace and Friendship for both nations. “We cannot help worrying that Japan is abolishing its unilaterally defensive policy and embracing doubtful feeling against Japan,” told Yang to Yachi. Yang had to lay three conditions, if Abe would not attend the victory ceremony, to persuade Chinese public.

The first of them was to reconfirm four political documents between the two nations. They were Joint Statement in 1972 that normalized diplomatic relation and China abandoned all demands to Japan for compensation related to the war, Peace and Friendship Treaty in 1978 that reconfirmed independence on arms in resolving all conflicts, Joint Declaration in 1998 in which Japan promised maintenance of Murayama Statement, and Joint Statement for promoting strategic reciprocal relationship.

The second was maintenance of spirit of Murayama Statement which apologized Japan’s aggression. And the last was not visiting Yasukuni Shrine. Implementing four political documents are easy for Japan, because it is a matter of diplomatic obligation. But other two are something about intervention of China into Japanese domestic politics, at least for Abe and his right wing colleagues.

The key event will be Abe’s statement on the seventieth anniversary from the end of war. He is highly reluctant to apologize for wrong policy of waging war by Imperial Japan. It is also unlikely for China to make further compromise in Abe’s visit to China. Abe’s visit to China depends on whether he accepts Murayama Statement, which he has fundamentally hated.

Intervening Independent History Discussion

The Committee for Twenty-first Century Initiative is a meeting of experts to discuss the ingredients of seventieth anniversary statement by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe this summer. A news reports revealed that Abe had been intervening to the committee to make its final report preferable to him. Pretending to be acknowledging public voices to his controversial political agenda, Abe has been deceiving the nation by fabricating conclusion of the committee.

Abe has been looking into the draft of committee’s report and sent his opinion to the committee through his staffs. He required revision of trivial expressions of the report. “It was like castigation,” one of the committee members revealed.

In the discussion at the committee, most members supported to include “colonial rule and aggression” in the statement by Prime Minister Tomi-ichi Murayama in 1995. The draft was actually made along with that notion. But, Abe was not satisfied with it. “While there was an negative aspect in Japan’s colonial rule, wasn’t there a positive aspect in it?” Abe questioned the argument. Although Abe wants to include both positive and negative aspect of Japan’s aggression, the committee replied that the history could not be glorified.

On the expression of “democratization” in the relation with China or Taiwan, Abe argued that China was not democratized and required to reconsider it. He also demanded to delete some sentences that were not preferable to him. “Although there were some points in which he was correct, Abe doubted every single word in a manner a prime minister would not do,” told one who is related to the committee.

The committee has broadly been discussing detailed expression in the seventieth anniversary statement. Its report is going to refer to “colonial rule and aggression” and “deep remorse,” but not expressing “heartfelt apology.” Abe is still reluctant to apologize to the victims in Asian nations and rejecting to admit that the war policy was mistaken by Imperial Japan. There is a minor difference over Japan’s aggression between Abe and the committee.

Under consistent historical revisionism of top leader, the discussion over the statement is not converging into how Japan is rebuilding the relationship with Asian nations, but how to go through this event in a face-saving way for the domestic conservatives. The committee is no longer a consultative organization of Abe, but a group of servants for Abe dynasty.

False Accounting of Appliance Giant

President of Toshiba Corporation, Hisao Tanaka, is going to announce his stepping down this afternoon. The third party committee for investigation of false financial management submitted the final report to Toshiba, which revealed inappropriate involvement of top managers in fabrication of its financial balance. One of the major appliance companies in Japan is facing fatal loss of credibility from the public on its moral standard.

According to the investigation report, total amount of income falsely added to the balance was ¥152 billion. The committee found that top leaders of Toshiba did not make any effort to stop that false financial management, while they had noticed fictitious income being accumulated. Although some sections demanded allowance for deficits, top leaders had been rejecting it. After all, the false accounting was conducted by top leaders including the president.

The president of Toshiba gave each section monthly workload, called “challenge.” When a section could not achieve the goal, it would receive hard pressure from the top, including possible withdrawal from a project. The management board ignored a recommendation to reconfirm the rightness of management from the audit committee. “There has been a corporative climate in Toshiba, in which the workers could not resist preference of their leaders,” told the final report.

Toshiba falsely added ¥26 billion of income in the sales of gauge for electric power usage to Tokyo Electric Power Company, in spite of possible deficit amounting to ¥8 billion had been realized. President Tanaka dismissed an offer from project team to include allowance for the deficit. In the sales of television, Tanaka also recognized false accounting. The TV section of Toshiba had been capitalizing the cost for advertisement with certain delay or added imaginary discount in purchasing TV parts.

Security and Exchange Surveillance Commission is going to investigate the false accounting of Toshiba. The commission will decide whether it is going to recommend Financial Services Agency to pose penalty on Toshiba, after Toshiba releases security report in late August. The commission is making a close look at whether Toshiba’s false accounting affected its stock price.

Toshiba has not only been making family appliances, such as refrigerator, television or laptop computer, but also exporting reactors for nuclear power plant. In the competition with the companies in China or South Korea, Toshiba was impatient in lagging behind. But, the scandal may cause significant loss of credibility to Japanese company, which once enjoyed splendid reputation in the world.

Fishing Boat Captured in Diplomatic Impasse

Russian Border Patrol captured a Japanese fishing boat, which was carrying excessive amount of salmon, within Russian excusive economic zone on Friday. It was obviously a demonstration of strict application of new regulation policy for fishing in Northern Pacific starting next year. Reflecting deteriorated situation with the Western nations over Ukraine or other sensitive issues, Russia looks sober in the relation with Japan. Nevertheless, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe still expects a major breakthrough in bilateral relationship with Russia this year. This is an isolated diplomacy.

In the fishing in Russian EEZ, quota for each boat is strictly limited. The captured boat, #10 Hoko, was carrying 26,962 kilograms of sockeye salmon, the most valuable kind of salmon in Japanese market, exceeding the limitation by 472 kilograms. Russian Border Patrol made inspection on #10 Hoko on the ocean 50 kilometers east of Nemuro City, the most Eastern city in mainland of Japan, on its way to Nemuro Hanasaki Port and found false fishery.

#10 Hoko was supposed to be brought to a port in Japan’s Northern Territory controlled by Russian government and would be posed a penalty of ¥500 thousand for the violation. Eleven crews, mainly living in the cities in Hokkaido, were also brought by Russian officials with their boats.

It was the first time in these eleven years for a Japanese boat for salmon fishing to be captured by Russian government. Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent Russian government an objection against the capture and demanded immediate release of #10 Hoko and its crews. Japanese Coast Guard had no communication with #10 Hoko after the boat was captured, but they believe the crews would be alive.

There was a rumor among the salmon fishermen that Russian Border Patrol had been laying stricter regulation over Japanese fishing boats after Russian Parliament passed a law to ban floating net for salmon fishery this year. Crews of some other fishing boats witnessed that military battle ships were deployed for the regulation of salmon fishing. It was likely that Russian Patrol was serious in inspection to justify their decision. Bribe no longer works. While Japanese fishermen were careful about it, #10 Hoko was not well prepared.

The Russians knew that stricter regulation might deteriorate the economic relation with Japan. But, it did not matter for them. Internal pressure for conserving natural resources was getting stronger against Russian government. For Russian government, Japan is a member of concerted sanction against Russia over Ukraine crisis and not an object to take a soft approach. Although Abe wants to have moderate relationship with Russia, it is unlikely that only Japan and Russia can be a friend in this complicated international politics.

Serious Erosion of Supports

As has been predicted, supporting rate of Shinzo Abe administration steeply declined a few days after his Liberal Democratic Party passed eleven security bills in the House of Representatives. It was a clear reflection of the fact that an overwhelming number of people in Japan were against those bills or unilateral legislative procedure promoted by LDP. Abe’s political basis was significantly eroded by his insistence on his personal political agenda.

The poll operated by Kyodo News Agency showed major decline in supporting rate of Abe Cabinet. It got down by 9.7 percentage points, from 47.4% in last month to 37.7% of this time. 51.6% of answerers did not support Abe Cabinet, marking the first turnover between “support” and “not support” for the first time since December 2013 when Abe administration embarked on.

Main reason was apparently forcible legislative procedure by leading LDP and Komeito over the security bills. 73.3% of the responder recognized taking votes without attendance of the opposite parties as “not good,” while only 21.4% thought it to be “good.” Protesters against passing the bills in this session of the Diet increased by 5.1 percentage points, marking as high as 68.2%, while supporters reduced to 24.6%. Opposite against the bills marked 61.5%, overtaking 27.5% of the supporters.

It is obvious that Abe did not make every effort to achieve broad consensus. 82.9 % of the answerers did not think that Abe had explained about the bills enough. Even 56.6% found the bills to be violating the Constitution of Japan. People who discredited their Prime Minister increased by 7.6 percentage points, reaching to 27.9%. It is fair to say that Abe significantly lost his popularity with inadequate handling of the security bills.

After passing the bills in the House of Representatives, the movement against Abe administration is prevalent in everywhere in Japan. Responding to the calls by liberal writers or journalists, civil groups made demonstration in cities and towns, raising panels reading “Never Forgive Abe Politics.” Abe’s decisions made by logic of Tokyo, including forcible construction of new military base in Okinawa or resumption of nuclear power plants, face fundamental protest from Hokkaido to Okinawa.

LDP lawmakers are making countermeasures against the campaign with simple reasoning of insecurity around Japan. Supporters for the presentation wrongly believes that United States will wage a war against China to defend Japan, when China made an aggression to a small islands, or rocks, without Japanese resident in the ocean far south of mainland Japan. The poll showed that Japanese people were getting to know the misperception of Abe administration.

Revision without Plan B

To avoid further downfall in popularity, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe changed his opinion. He announced that the plan for new national stadium would be revised from zero basis, because current plan that would cost ¥252 billion was too expensive. There is no fixed plan B so far. With sudden change of course, construction of new stadium will not catch up with World Cup Rugby in 2019. Is it possible for this nation to have Olympic Games in 2020, anyway?

Abe and Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee has been upholding current plan designed by Zaha Hadid, in which two big arch support whole structure of the stadium. Abe promised to build a brand-new stadium that would not exist anywhere else in the world. As a result that nobody considered how much the brand-new stadium would cost, it appeared to be as four times expensive as the main stadium in London Olympic.

It was inevitable that such crazy plan would face harsh criticism from the public. There has been an opinion that the government should be focusing on reconstruction from Great East Japan Earthquake, rather than making Tokyo Olympic a showcase of the reconstruction. Despite introducing new consumption tax rate, national budget still has huge deficit amounting to ¥1 quadrillion. People have no tolerance for irrelevant money spending.

Overturning former statement that he would not think a change in current construction plan, Abe told reporters that he had been thinking the change from one month before. “There have been criticisms from the people or athletes on the swollen cost. I decided that it would be difficult for everyone to cerebrate the Olympic in this situation,” told Abe. And he promised that new stadium would be finished before Tokyo Olympic 2020.

There was no responsible person for coordinating modern Olympic, which required compact and less expensive plan, after Tokyo was successful in the invitation. Abe was focusing on his personal political agenda such as collective self-defense or the seventieth anniversary statement. Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and Japan Sports Center have been pressing responsibility each other.

It might be too early for Japan to have Olympic Games. This country has not been rebuilt from chaos of the great earthquake. True damage of the disaster was incredibility of the people against national government, which had been too lazy to help people. Now, over one hundred thousands of people cannot get back home. In spite of that, the national government decided to cut the budget for helping those people starting next year. It is only Tokyo that is delighted with the coming sports event.

Along with Party Line

The House of Representatives passed eleven bills for enhanced national security along with party line on Thursday. The hall showed unusual view, in which only supporters of the bills participated in the voting and the opponents protested against the unilateral procedure with empty seats. Democracy makes a decision with support of numerical majority. However, the leading parties with great majority in the House only represented public minority. If this were a democracy, most Japanese are disappointed with it.

Before voting, parties had the last debate for the bills. Jun Matsumoto, representing the Liberal Democratic, insisted on that the discussion had thoroughly been done, saying “We spent the longest time for the bill among the bills related to security policy.” Despite no substantial conclusion over constitutionality of the bills, LDP focused on how much the time being spent, making no sense. Kiyohiko Toyama affiliated with Komeito stressed that there would be no change in Japan’s pacifist strategy with new legislation without any persuasive logic.

The opposite parties cast fundamental questions to Shinzo Abe administration. Democratic leader, Katsuya Okada, explicitly demanded withdrawal of the bills. “The biggest problem is exercising collective self-defense right, even though it is limited. New three principles for exercising collective self-defense right contradict constitutionalism and definition of “existence crisis situation,” in which Japan would be able to exercise the right, is too unclear,” told Okada. The leader of Japan Communist Party named the legislation “war exercising bills” and dismissed every reason Abe raised for supporting the bills as made by despotism.

Innovation Party, which had been playing the game as the joker, finally joined the coalition of the opposite parties, after its alternative bills were mercilessly killed by LDP. “Three principles are so vague that the government will be unleashed to use its force with arbitral decision. It is natural that the constitutional scholars warned its unconstitutionality. We never allow any kind of collective self-defense aiming to defend other country,” told the president, Yorihisa Matsuno.

After the debate, members of those opposite three parties walked out from the hall. Without participants from the opposite, leading parties passed the bills without casting ballots, only expressing their approval with standing from their seats. Abe’s handling of democracy, in which majority can do anything it wants, is losing its credibility, along with the decline of supporting rate for him.

Fatal Doping

Unleashed Liberal Democratic Party under false leadership of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and its incompetent coalition partner, Komeito, passed unconstitutional security bills in a special committee of the House of Representatives on Wednesday. The significance of this event was that the body of Japan as a state was going to be changed forever once the legislature would be enacted. This is the story.

Japan realizes that there is one in its neighborhood who has been building up its body power in a short time. Japan has witnessed him injuring little kids in the street with his physical power and feeling threatened with intimidations. Japan acknowledges the necessity for itself to strengthen its body. The point is how to do that.

There is a long internal argument that Japan should take a kind of muscle enhancing drug to deal with threat from its neighborhood. The drug, called collective self-defense, is not illegal and most families in the community possess it. However, Japan decided not to use it long before, because it realized the drug did not cope with the nature of its body. For Japan, the drug has heavy side effects, breaking accumulated interpretations of the Constitution down and causing endless legal chaos.

Regardless of the possibility of disastrous consequence, Abe insisted on using the drug to build up Japan’s muscle. His families and friends warned not to use it. Most people know that the drug will harm Japan’s internal organs, while it enhances arms, legs or abdominal muscle.

Friends tried to persuade him that Japan could be countering outer threats without the drug, because it already hired an excellent guard man, called America. But the guard man has other businesses in other part of the community. America wanted Japan to deal with its own trouble by itself. And moreover, it hoped help from Japan in its all businesses. America recommended Japant to take the drug, if necessary.

It is inevitable for Japan’s neighbors to be alerted. Indicating internal trouble in Japan causing its further weakness, China criticized Japan’s new action to counter its advance to the Pacific Ocean. One of Japan’s allies, South Korea, also worried about future of possible reincarnation of Japanese militarism.

Abe does not care about negative information against the doping. His mind is occupied by a memory of his grandfather, who stepped down as Prime Minister by overwhelming national opinion against having closer relationship with America. He does not care about harmful side effects exercising collective self-defense right has. This is the leadership who leads the nation to a catastrophe.

Reckless Driving

Liberal Democratic Party decided to take votes on eleven bills for new security legislation without participation of the opposite parties in the House of Representatives. It is possible, because LDP and its coalition partner, Komeito, occupies two-thirds of majority in the House. But a great majority of the people showed firm opposition against the bills in the polls. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe keeps on reckless drive in his administration for his personal conviction to rewrite the post-war history of Japan.

In the meeting of party representatives of Special Committee for Peace and Security Legislation on Tuesday, LDP proposed to take votes on the bills on Wednesday. Chairman, Yasukazu Hamada, dismissed the demand of the opposite parties, including Democratic Party of Japan, Innovation Party or Communist Party, to continue discussion and decided the schedule for taking votes, exercising his authoritarian power for procedure.

Deeply frustrated, the opposite parties are not going to participate in the session for taking votes. The Democrats and Communists will be walking out from committee room after certain period of discussion on Wednesday. Innovation Party, having rejected its own alternative bills by LDP, will wholly be absent in the discussion and voting on Wednesday.

LDP has no toleration to listen to the opposite opinions. After a meeting with President of Innovation Party, Yorihisa Matsuno, Chairman of House of Representatives, Tadamori Oshima, asked LDP to take good care of the opposite opinion, only resulted in being ignored. Minister of Local Revitalization, Shigeru Ishiba, unusually expressed his concern on the decision of taking votes, saying “I’m not sure whether all the talking points were discussed.” Abe administration is also going to ignore this contradiction within the Cabinet.

The main reason why the opposites require more discussion is uncertainty of measures Japanese government will face in actual contingency. In an imaginary case of North Korea striking American vessels with missile, Abe answered that Japan’s retaliatory measures would be recognized as unilateral attack in the concept of individual self-defense. However, he told that Japan could attack North Korea without any actual strike, if the North had possessed intention and capability of striking Japan. Well, it is a typical unilateral offense, Mr. Prime Minister, as long as “intention” is determined by someone else.

It is obvious that the government has no concrete idea on actual cases. Controlled bureaucrats, Abe keeps on saying, “It’s up to general decision of the government.” There is no rule of law in his mind so far as security legislature is concerned. It is inevitable that Japanese government will be appalled in quagmire of endless argument in a moment its allies want immediate help as it did in the past.

New Offensive Action from Okinawa

Another countermeasure was taken by Okinawa. Prefectural Congress of Okinawa passed an ordinance, which would regulate transporting earth and sand for landfill from outer area on Monday. Although the congress stressed the necessity of conserving biology of Okinawa, it was obvious that Okinawa tried to disturb landfill in Henoko, where Government of Japan and United States had a plan to build new Marine airbase. Escalation of opposition between Tokyo and Okinawa was stepped up.

Draft of the ordinance was submitted by five parties, including Social Democratic or Communists, which supported Governor of Okinawa, Takeshi Onaga. It was aimed to preserve biological diversity by refraining from introduction of strange creatures such as small ants or spiders.

The ordinance demands developers to research and report about mixture of “registered strange creatures” into the soil, when they carry it from another prefecture. The report must be done ninety days before carrying. If the soil was suspected to be including those creatures, the local government of Okinawa can investigate the developer or recommend not carrying it. To abide by the ordinance, a developer needs to take more time to research.

Liberal Democratic Party in Okinawa, the opposite power against Onaga, criticized the ordinance as political move to disturb Henoko relocation. LDP has been promoting the building of the second runway of Okinawa International Airport as an important policy for the economy of Okinawa. New ordinance will disturb not only the introduction of soil into Henoko, but building plan of the civilian airport. Tokyo government is closely watching whether new ordinance will be unpopular among the people in Okinawa who expect convenience of air transportation.

In the plan of Ministry of Defense, building Henoko Airbase requires a great amount of earth and sand from Kagoshima or Yamaguchi. Although it is unlikely that the ordinance can stop the construction, new action of Okinawan government will be recognized as symbolic protest against unilateral infringement of self-determination by the national government.

However, national government has not shown any attitude to talk with Okinawa on the issue. “I will closely watch whether the ordinance is going to target a specific policy,” told Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yoshihide Suga. Watching is not what he, as a responsible Minister, should do. Lack of communication is making Okinawa issue more complicated.

Grass-roots Opposition from Local

While Prime Minister unilaterally promotes his ultra-conservative political agenda, opposition rises from local communities all over Japan. A number of local assemblies submitted opinions against security legislature of Shinzo Abe administration during a year after Abe Cabinet decided that exercising collective self-defense right was constitutional. It shows insistent opposition existing in local community, alienating military activism in Tokyo national government.

According a survey operated by Kyodo News Agency, 469 opinions on collective self-defense or new security bills from 339 local assemblies, including 6 prefectural congresses, were submitted to House of Representatives or Councillors. Among them, there were 463 opinions that required abolishment of the cabinet decision or careful discussion over the security bills. Only 6 demanded passing the security bill.

Firm opposition occupied over sixty percent of all opinions. 296 opinions argued that the cabinet decision should be void or security bills should be turned down. It was not strange for a local community, which does not acknowledge any external security threat, -- actually does not exist --, to oppose unnecessary redefinition of peaceful constitution. It also was natural that they thought new security bills would make Japan further dangerous against outer threat, as long as they did not recognize any existing danger.

Clear oppositions against new security bills expressed various concerns. “It will pave the way to participate in a war started with preemptive attack of United States, based only on decision of Tokyo government,” said an opinion of Village of Oshika, Nagano. “It may bring retaliatory terrorism to Japan,” warned Town of Naka, Tokushima.

Fundamental question on Japanese democracy also came up. “It is obvious that the new security bills violates Constitution of Japan,” argued Town of Kanayama, Fukushima. “The bills are something to be determined by national referendum,” told Town of Kushimoto, Wakayama.

On the other hand, supporters insisted on duty for international community. “As a member of international society, we need to responsibly contribute to the world,” expressed the opinion from City of Hachioji, Tokyo. But, Hachioji even required the Diet of designated effort to achieve broad understanding from the public.

In local towns, there are a few jobs for young people to get. One typical choice of local young juveniles is joining self-defense force for maintain their life. For local communities, it is them who fight a war caused by unnecessary security legislature that stimulates potential enemy. Local people feel separation between Tokyo and their hometown in Abe’s security policy.