Be Independent

The Prime Minister Shinzo Abe required the nation to be independent in his second policy speech in current session of the Diet of Japan. Independent from what? It’s from the other people, from the government, and from the United States. Why? It’s simple. When he listed what he wanted the nation to do, he needed to ask the people to be independent from them. But if we are independent from all of them, we will be so isolated.

In the speech, he praised the independent mind of the sufferers of the Great Northeastern Earthquake in Tohoku area of Japan. “I know the people who are living in the temporary houses say ‘we encourage ourselves caring for each other,’” said Abe. He argued that it was a spirit of independence grown in the community. He did not make clear what the sufferers should do, anyway. One may recognize his message as a justification for the delay of reconstruction.

As the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, Abe has been requiring the nation to help themselves rather than relying on public or governmental assistances. In his speech, however, he defined the spirit of social and governmental assistance to be helping each other as friends with common experiences. And in his context, sufferers of the disaster who are helping each other are described as people with independent mind. As its conceptual result, people who help themselves and who help each other are both independent.

It was not easy to understnad what he was talking about. The point he stressed was he wanted to build “strong Japan” with the power of people helping each other. But there was no reference of helping hand for people who wanted to be helped as much as he could. It would not be a prescription for growing number of suicide in Japanese society.

The Prime Minister also emphasized the need of independent diplomacy and security policy. The reason of that would easily be found. Abe met with US President Barack Obama last week. Although Obama’s staff, including the Secretary of State John Kerry, expressed US support for Japan in Senkaku issue with China, Obama himself kept his neutral standpoint between Japan and China. Obama required Japan to solve the problem in peaceful way, while he did not get involved in the sovereignty of the islands.

That was a sign that the issue needed to be solved by Japan without the nuclear umbrella of US. Abe, after the meeting, needed to encourage Japanese nations to be determined to face the problem they are facing. But Abe frequently emphasizes Chinese threat, while even former PM Jun-ichiro Koizumi, who worsened the relationship with China by going to Yasukuni Shrine, carefully referred that “ I don’t take a position of recognizing China as a threat.” It is hard for Abe administration to improve the relationship, even how we are independently determined to protect our land.