Hide It and Lie

Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, once said that the Democrats would lie like breathing. Whether or not it is true, bureaucrats exhale lies like breathing, when they occupy information. According to the report of Japan Broadcasting Corporation, or NHK, U.S. Secretary of Defense, Chuck Hagel, appreciated Minister of Defense of Japan, Itsunori Onodera, to the explanation about Abe’s visit of Yasukuni Shrine last month in their telephone talk on Saturday. Hours later, DoD announced Hagel’s concern about the impact of the Yasukuni visit on neighbors. Appreciation and concern do not stand simultaneously. This topic revealed informational manipulation in the Ministry of Defense in dealing with the record of conversation.

According to the NHK news uploaded on its webpage on 4:19 a.m., Onodera asked Hegel to understand why Abe visited Yasukuni. “Onodera said ‘With serious reflection of the past that war must not be repeated, Abe visited the shrine to pray for non-war resolution. There was no intention to disturb the sentiments of the Chinese and South Koreans,’” the report quoted. Leaving aside a question that it could be said “no intention” even if Abe had known his visit would disturb them, the answer of Hagel, according to the ministry, was “I appreciate Onodera’s explanation.”

However, another news on 10:51 a.m. reported an official announcement of DoD on the telephone talk. DoD said that Hagel had told Onodera that “It is important for Japan to take action for improving relations with its neighbors and to cooperate for a common goal of regional peace and stability.” Where is Hagel’s appreciation? Although it is not completely unlikely for Hagel to appreciate, the most important response of Hagel was not the appreciation but a request of Japan’s effort to maintain regional peace and stability. The spokesperson of the Ministry of Defense, who were responsible for briefing about the talk, must have ignored or hidden inconvenient information for them.

This could be a negative reflection of new Designative Secrecy Law, which allows the government to back security information off the eyes of the people in this nation. With the law, bureaucrats are misunderstanding that information is not for the people, but for the state. No inconvenient information should not be opened, they think.

True meaning of Abe’s Yasukuni visit was to appease some domestic groups that wanted to overturn the traditional interpretation of post-war history, regardless the response of neighbor countries. Ignoring that truth, bureaucrats follow Abe administration not because it puts this country on the right course, but it leads bureaucracy to a hegemonic status that Japan once experienced.