Halfway toward Russia

The Government of Japan stepped up its sanction against Russia on Tuesday. Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fumio Kishida, announced that the government halted issuing visa to twenty-three anonymous Russians, mainly the government officials, claiming that Russia had been invading sovereignty and integrity of Ukraine. Although Ukrainian crisis does not affect Japan’s national interest so greatly, this is a problem in which standpoint of Japan is questioned. Japan has no choice except taking the side of freedom.

After Russia seized Crimea Peninsula, the Japanese government took an action to stop discussion with Russia for simplifying visa issuance to travelers. This time, Japan raised its warning to the level of rejecting Russian officials. “We express serious concern on being no progress in current situation, in spite of Geneva Agreement on April 17th,” Kishida told in the statement on Tuesday.

On Monday, the United States released further sanction toward Russia, which banned visa for the people close to Russian President, Vladimir Putin. They included Speakers of Federal Council and Federal Assembly, president of national petroleum company and former pro-Russian President of Ukraine. Since the Speaker of Federal Assembly, Sergey Naryshkin, has been a key person in the negotiation for Northern Territory of Japan, the Japanese government is worried about the impact U.S. sanction will have in bilateral Japan-Russia relationship.

It is inevitable for Japan to suffer from deterioration of relationship with Russia. The problem was made by Russian government that forcefully took Ukraine territory under its control. The political leaders in Japan cannot understand how few choices they have. It is a choice between supporting freedom based on the people’s self-determination and protecting national interest with illegal exercise of force or threat. Having peaceful constitution, Japan has no choice but standing for non-military side.

The administration led by Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, tries to reason its response to Ukraine crisis by contemplating it as unilateral change of status quo by force, because the concept has been used in criticizing China in its assertion around Senkaku Islands. However, it is unlikely that China will restrain its activity there with Japan’s denouncement on Russia.

Japan’s attitude toward Russia is still halfway. Once it showed appeasement, Russia may be reaching Japan with some diplomatic card on the Northern Territory. But Japanese leaders need to realize that the offer never includes returning Northern islands to Japan.

Irresponsible Evacuation

As things get clear, it seems to be the captain and his staffs who were responsible for a number of passengers stayed in cabin of the sinking ship off the coast of South Korea. Japanese TV shows keep on reporting the process of rescuing effort of South Korean Coast Guard day after day, blaming the abandonment of the leaders on board. TVs aggressively report how the Koreans are not so sophisticated that they could be responsible at the cost of their lives. Some say the Koreans are not worth developed country. Wait a minute, you guys. Which nation was that community leaders evacuated from the area close to an exploded nuclear power plant, leaving people in need of accurate information three years ago?

TV shows are appeasing their watchers by reporting blind side of South Korean society, which has currently been assertive to the Japanese namely on history interpretation. One report claimed that the ship was overloaded with trucks and trailers in seeking of economic efficiency. It was regarded as excessive ambition for money. Another underscored strong irresponsibility of the captain, revealing that he had evacuated the ship while passengers still talking about excitement of ship’s unusual condition without any information of the situation. On the background of those reports, there was a sense of arrogance looking down the Koreans.

But in one city in Fukushima, Japan, people are still talking about what regional leaders did right after the nuclear accident. According to their stories, people in towns of Okuma and Futaba, where First Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant is located, evacuated first, because those towns had a number of people who worked for Tokyo Electric Power Company, which had been running the plant. Realizing the accident was fatal, they called each other to escape radioactive materials as soon as possible.

People in other towns and cities could not decide what they should be doing. Some stayed home to avoid exposure to cesium falls, and others left their homes, some of whom went to more dangerous area. In Minamisoma city, located twenty kilometers away from the plant, medical doctors left their hospital without taking care of their patients.

People in the world praised calmness and kindness of tsunami victims of in Japan, who silently made a line waiting for water and sharing foods. The Japanese are proud of it. But there also were people who wandered around without correct information about nuclear accident. Leaders responsible for providing that were absent for protecting themselves. That makes no different from evacuated captain of Korean ship.

Chorus of Blaming Comfort Woman Issue

It was predictable enough. In spite of that, the leaders in Japan pretended to be look like being surprised, as if saying “Oh, I didn’t expect he would say such a thing.” Give us a break. They simply have no gut to improve relationship with South Korea.

President of the United States, Barack Obama, for the first time criticized Japan’s hiring comfort women in the wartime in the joint press conference with the President of South Korea, Park Geun-hye. “[T]his was a terrible, egregious violation of human rights,” Obama blamed Japan with highly unusual expression. “I think Prime Minister Abe recognizes, and certainly Japanese people recognizes, that the past is something that has to be recognized honestly and fairly,” added Obama.

No, Barack. Abe does not want to recognize it. Certain amount of people in Japan does the same. Suffering from the great earthquake and being taken over by China as the leading economy in Asia, the mind of part of the Japanese people shrank to the extent that they cannot afford to maintain such a compassionate sentiment over what they had done to the neighbors. That is what the president of a Pacific country needs to remind. Because U.S. could not understand China’s real ambition, this Asian giant became as big as unstoppable. Distinguish lies from truths, Barack.

Park was sober enough. “[P]rogress cannot achieved by efforts of a single party. And, therefore, in this regard, I really look forward to efforts made by the Japanese side,” said Park. Although Abe stated that he would abide by Kono Statement, which recognized Japan’s apology for comfort women, Koreans are not fully satisfied with that, because those announcements were undermined time after time.

Looking at the timing of U.S.-South Korea summit meeting, Abe added a comment on this issue. “My heart aches when I think about women with unspeakable, hard experience,” said Abe. Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary, Katsunobu Kato, told that this should not be political issue, raising Abe’s comment. Kato must have thought that all were set by Abe’s comment. That is something Japanese leaders are innocent in world politics.

As well as visit to Yasukuni Shrine, comfort women issue is a powerful engine for South Korea to reach China. In the time U.S. is in need of help from allies for its Asia-Pacific rebalancing, those issues are nothing but disturbances of U.S. interest. Abe keeps on saying that Japan-U.S. alliance is indispensable one. But he ignores the consequence his unilateral activity has caused.

Before coming back to the national leadership, Abe once denounced Democratic Party of Japan as “exhaling lies.” Now, lies are coming out from Abe’s mouth. That is what U.S. needs to know.

Heritage of Industrialization

Most people delighted with a news that United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization evaluated “The Tomioka Silk Mill and Related Industrial Heritage” as mostly perfect for World Cultural Heritage, even if they had only a little knowledge on it. Reports emphasized on the strategy of Japanese government to focus on high technology and good condition of reservation about the heritage. However, history over governmental policy of industrialization and women labor will need to be told, if it becomes cultural heritage.

The Tomioka Silk Mill was built in Gunma region in 1872, just five years after Meiji Restoration. Reflecting the policy of simultaneous development of military and industrial force in Meiji regime, the mill was built as a symbol of government-owned industries. Although it represented an industry of Japanese high quality silk for exporting to Europe, the factory did not make a good business in terms of productivity.

In history books for students, the mill was introduced as a machinated factory with Western style concentrated labor. In post war education relatively leaning on leftist side, Tomioka Mill was memorized as a place of hard labor on young women, questioning its condition of human rights. Lodged in small rooms in the site, they worked early in the morning to late at night.

It is recently acknowledged that those factory workers were mostly the daughters of well-to-do. Some realize them as early elites of women workers, comparing with women workers in Nagano area, where environment of mills was extremely deteriorated. With their efforts, anyway, Japan eventually emerged as one of the biggest textile makers, which would cause significant trade dispute with the United States in late twentieth century.

Helped by the efforts of the people in the region for conservation, Tomioka Mill remains its beautiful outlook, inviting a number of tourists. The reason why UNESCO realized the site as perfect must be the good condition of the site. The meaning of the mill in Japan’s modern history was ignored. If Japan wants to let the people in the world recognize modern development of Japan, it needs to cultivate its history and appeal its diligent effort for improvement.

The Japanese are always proud of being prized. Its government will pour a bunch of resource into something authorized by an international organization. People make big efforts only to get that authorization to improve the budget for operating cultural assets. In other words, the government does not finance cultural heritage without authorization of the world. They are not able to judge any value.

Missing What’s Going On

Because the negotiators strictly controlled information, speculative reports confused the nation. Bilateral talk between Japan and the United States on Trans-Pacific Partnership reached no concrete deal during U.S. President, Barack Obama, stayed in Tokyo. Although Japanese Minister and U.S. Trade Representative talked night and day, distance between them still remained. Promise of the top leaders to conclude this issue at the state visit was broken.

It was unusual that joint statement was not prepared when both leaders of Japan and U.S. held a joint press conference after their summit meeting. The only reason for that was negotiation on TPP had not finished. They ordered to continue the talk while Obama was participating in official schedule of his state visit. While the President was playing succor with Asimo, one of the world’s most advanced humanoid robot developed by Honda Motor Co. Ltd., or taking a rest in his hotel room after state dinner with Japanese Emperor in Akasaka Palace, the officials kept on negotiating to narrow their differences.

Akira Amari, the Minister in charge of TPP, announced that they could not reach a deal and decided to continue the talk in Friday morning, few hours before Obama would leave Tokyo to Seoul. “Nothing was settled. While the distance has been shortened, this is not a overwhelming deal,” told Amari about discussion over tariffs of five important agricultural products and automobile.

According to the reports, the difference was too sharp to make a deal between Japan insisting on leaving tariff on five important products and U.S. requiring the highest standard of free trade. Although TPP is a framework for eliminating tariff, Japan tries to change the rule of the game to protect domestic uncompetitive agriculture. Frustrated with rigorous Japan, U.S. Trade Representaitve, Michael Froman, introduced a demand of loose safety standard on U.S. autos exported to Japan. This argument invited sharp criticism in Japan that U.S. was pushing their low-profiled products or that was no longer a free-trade negotiation.

Yomiuri raised a big headline that both had made a substantial deal, in spite of the fact that Amari had dismissed any deal. Since the paper scooped highly speculative story days before that the both had agreed with a deal on 9% tariff on U.S. beef, some deal must be done in Obama’s visit for maintaining credibility as a news organization.

As a result, people still do not know what was really going on at the negotiating table. Considering that Obama does not want the issue affects mid-term election this fall, TPP framework may not work forever.

Different Dreams on a Bed

Japan and the United States could finally avoid a miserable failure of top leaders meeting without any conclusive document. Japan-U.S. Joint Statement titled “Japan and the United States: Shaping the Future of the Asia-Pacific and Beyond” boasted that their alliance was cornerstone for regional peace and security as well as a platform for global cooperation. That was one thing. Another was that their relationship would not be functional so much.

The statement was overwhelmingly a firm message to China, which had been assertive in seeking their core interests in territory and sovereignty. Japan and U.S. reaffirmed “the importance of maintaining a maritime order based upon respect for international law, including the freedom of navigation and overflight.” Without referring to the name of China, they shared strong concern over uncoordinated declaration of an Air Defense Identification Zone in the East China Sea. “Our two countries oppose any attempt to assert territorial or maritime claims through the use of intimidation, coercion or force,” told the statement, delivering strong message to new Asian giant.

Japan and U.S., however, share only a part of interest in terms of dealing with China. Looking down China from a viewpoint of former colonial ruler, Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, does not care China’s appeal not to adore war criminals. Abe’s explanation on his visit to Yasukuni Shirine, which was something like “I did it to pray for war victims that all leaders do,” was meanwhile as to say “It is none of your business, China.”

U.S. has been continuing discussion at the table of “new great powers deal” set by China. In that bilateral talk, China offered divided control of the Pacific Ocean shared by China and U.S. Even though it would never be acceptable, U.S. cannot escape from seduction of great market of Asian continent. Trans-Pacific Partnership is a device for rule making in investment and trade in Asia, where China is seeking interest.

It was not strange that U.S. President, Barack Obama, assured Abe not to introduce confusion in the situation in Northeast Asia. “[A]s I’ve said directly to the Prime Minister that it would be a profound mistake to continue to see escalation around this issue rather than dialogue and confidence-building measures between Japan and China,” said Obama at the press conference after the meeting with Abe. Kyodo News reported it as looked like lecture of a teacher.

That sober environment indicated delicate bilateral relationship between Japan and U.S., in which another silly behavior of a nationalist leader of Japan can abruptly be damaging it. Also accelerated by stalemate over TPP, Japan-U.S. alliance is showing vulnerability against emerging big power in Asia.

So, What Was the Deal?

How did you like Jiro Sushi? For President of the United States, Barack Obama, it must have been unexpectedly hot with too much wasabi of Trans-Pacific Partnership, involvement in Senkaku and support for collective self-defense right. Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, looked like satisfied with the outcome of summit meeting in Tokyo. However, there was no substantial progress in bilateral relationship between the two.

In a joint press conference at the State Guest House on Thursday, Obama expressed U.S. obligation to defend Senkaku Islands under the provision of Japan-U.S. Security Treaty, which was already stated by Secretaries of State and Defense. He also stressed U.S. support for Abe administration that promoted reinterpretation of the Constitution to make possible of exercising collective self-defense force.

To Obama’s disappointment, the two leaders could not reach a deal in TPP negotiation. Selling this policy to the American public that it would create more exports and jobs, the President expected final conclusion in the minister-level talk. Despite, U.S. Trade Representative, Michael Froman and Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Akira Amari, was too lazy to reach an agreement over agricultural products and automobile.

Obama did not conceal his frustration. Although unofficial dinner in a three-star sushi restaurant in downtown Tokyo was reported as proceeded with friendly manner, the fact was that Obama kept on pushing Abe to make a deal. Given a direction from the President, Froman and Amari continued the meeting to the midnight, only resulting with no outcome. Losing ground for a deal, the summit talk finished without expected joint statement on reinforcing the alliance.

For Abe, the talk became useful for his domestic agenda. He at lease believes Obama’s support for collective self-defense can be persuasive for Japanese people to let them acknowledge the necessity of Japan-U.S. military cooperation. “That is why we need to amend the Constitution, which upholds pacifism in Article IX,” should be what he would mean.

It is still not sure, however, who is the final winner. To a question about the agreement meant U.S. involvement in Senkaku contingency, Obama gave no clear answer. Considering U.S. internal reluctance to being involved in collision between Japan and China over those small islands, or even rocks, Obama reserved a choice not to militarily help Japan, if China takes them. When this reservation is revealed, Abe will be grilled by the people in Japan as a loser.

Nominal Open Government

For the first time in 129-year old cabinet system in Japan, the administration led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe disclosed what the ministers did in a Cabinet meeting, the highest decision making organization in the executive branch. What the nation saw was, however, that the meeting was extremely nominal and had no actual discussion over policies. By providing with useless information, the administration emphasized its openness of decision making. This is the Japanese version of democracy.

The Cabinet on Tuesday uploaded on its website the record of Cabinet meeting on April 1st this year. According to that, a Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary introduced agenda of the day and asked the ministers approval in the meeting. Ministers approved new three principles for transportation of defense equipments. Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Economy, Trade and Industry confirmed their strict examination on military exports. Minister of Defense promised that he would promote cooperation with the United States and policies for necessary measurement to defend Japan.

Then, Chief Cabinet Secretary asked comments one after another they said something about policies. Prime Minister assured all ministers of careful observation on economy and flexible fiscal operation, concerning new consumption tax rate introduced that day. Other ministers reported about policies they were in charge of. In the meeting, ministers signed six decisions and the meeting ended within twelve minutes.

Such meetings are regularly held on every Tuesday and Friday. All the proceedings are previously prepared and no irregular event will be happen. Because bureaucrats take memo and no recording device is used, it is unlikely that discussion is accurately reproduced on a document.

The administration showed no interest to disclose the discussion in the National Security Council, even if it would leaves record of it. “We do not assume disclosing sensitive information on diplomacy and security related to our national interest,” told Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yoshihide Suga. According to Official Document Disclose Act, governmental document will be stored in National Archives for thirty years and disclosed with request. But the government can reject the request, when it regards the document as specifically important for national security.

The policy of the government is clear. It has no intention to disclose important documents. The government has an fixed idea that owner of the information is government, not people. Wrong tradition of the government, which was seen in the moment of pre-war era when government officials accumulated wrong decision on international politics, still remains in Japan.

Test of Conservative Gut

Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, offered holy tree to Yasukuni Shrine to celebrate spring festival. Although he refrained himself from visiting the shrine, he consequently pushed South Korea into Chinese side by letting it join in the duet of accusation of Japan. This narrow-minded Japanese leader is too naïve to correctly understand that the Chinese and the Koreans are always hungry for an opportunity to denounce Japan.

Most media described Abe’s decision as moderate, because he tried to avoid going to the shrine. The holy tree, called Masakaki, is ritual ornament for Shinto to praise god, which is decorated by five-colored clothes representing wood, fire, earth, gold and water. By donating the tree, Abe wanted to show his loyalty to the shrine and war victims, naturally including A-Class criminals.

It was inevitable that China and South Korea responded negatively. A spokesman of Chinese Foreign Ministry, Qin Gang, stressed his view that Abe’s donation reflected wrong attitude on history. “We urge Japan to take appropriate attitude in history issue. Yasukuni issue is an element of destroying its relationship with neighbor countries and negative heritage for Japan itself,” told Qin. Spokesperson of South Korean Foreign Ministry argued that Abe’s action was “anachronism that loses credibility of neighbor countries and stability of the region.”

Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yoshihide Suga, dismissed criticisms from China and South Korea. “Since the delivery was genuinely personal activity, the government have nothing to say to it,” said Suga. However, some ministers in Abe cabinet visited the shrine, ignoring protests from neighbor nations. In Abe administration, going to Yasukuni became litmus test of their guts in conservative community. This chicken race between Northeast Asian nations will not end as long as Abe presides Japan.

Showing no interest to stop intimidating China and South Korea, Abe ignores disappointment of the United States on his behavior and his colleagues’. After visiting Yasukuni last December, Abe brought Japan into an isolated situation in the world. As a prescription of that hardship created by himself, he chose further intimidation to the neighbors. It is unlikely that U.S. President, Barack Obama, will praise Abe’s self-restraint in the summit meeting with him in Tokyo this week.

U.S. recognizes Japan as the cornerstone of Asia in its rebalancing strategy. It is unclear, however, whether Japan will work as an anchor for the stability in the region, as far as Abe keeps on taking stance of prioritizing his own conservative domestic agenda over diplomacy with the neighbor countries.

Unequivocal Antagonism

The Chinese government has been taking position to distinguish economy from politics in the relationship with Japan. Now it seems to have turned the principle down.

The City of Shanghai, the second largest city in China, revealed on Sunday that it seized a large iron ore carrier of Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, which had 226 thousand metric tons of loading capacity. The reason was that Japan had not been responding to the request of compensation from Chinese company in 1936. This was well regarded as a new aggressive action on post-war compensation.

A Chinese ship company had a contract with Japanese sea transportation company of lending two ships, which were used by the Imperial Japanese Navy and sank in 1938 and 1944. The family of Chinese company in 1988 sued Mitsui O.S.K., the successor of Japanese ship company, demanding compensation of 2 billion Renminbi that was worthy of $330 million. After some argument in lower court, the Supreme Court of China rejected appeal of Mitsui in 2010.

Japan kept on saying that all appeal for compensation was cleared when China abandoned the right in Japan-China Joint Statement in 1972. In 1990s, China started interpreting the statement as not giving up private compensations. The case on Mitsui was recognized by Japanese business sectors as a sign of Chinese government to deal with post-war compensation issues against Japan’s benefit. With many issues waiting for that kind of sentence from the court, this case actually became a yellow light for business with China.

An economic analyst thought that the attitude of Chinese legislative branch was a diffusion of China’s boldness as the second largest economy overtaking Japan. Another saw a possibility of business shift from China to Southeast Asia. Many still see Chinese economy to be dependent on Japan.

However, political leaders in Japan need to see this change in political aspect. It is natural for the Japanese to see this case as political assertion of Xi Jinping administration. To take strong standpoint toward Japan is not only an appealing point to the Chinese people, but also a diplomatic card against the United States. Bringing new complexity in bilateral relationship with Japan, China tries to disseminate negative opinion inside U.S. public on rebalancing U.S. strategy to Asia-Pacific.

China seems to have thought this is the best time for doing it. U.S. President, Barack Obama, is coming Japan later this week. The sentence on Mitsui may work as an announcement of Chinese readiness on all-out antagonism against an important Asian ally of U.S.

Weak Opposites

Under the 1955 Regime in Japan, which represented bilateral antagonism along with the Cold War, the role of opposite party was to reject everything what the leading would do. Now, the opposites are too busy in their own survival to stand against Prime Minister and his colleagues. Consequently, arbitral power dominates in politics without effective check and balance. If one could see any excessiveness in Japan politics, it stems from weakness of the opposite power.

A significant setback of the opposites can see in endless turmoil in Japan Restoration Party. Frustrated with slow progress in regional political reform, Co-president of the party, or Mayor of Osaka, Toru Hashimoto, keeps on criticizing party leadership in Tokyo. On salary cut of legislators, Hashimoto harshly accused the party’s reluctance on continuing temporary reduction of the reward for contributing to reconstruction budget for the disastrous earthquake.

The standpoint of the Restoration Party is still not determined in terms of distance from current administration. Ultra-right movement in the party, led by another Co-president, Shintaro Ishihara, urges Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, to abolish Article IX of the Constitution, while liberal legislators are against party leadership, namely in constitutional amendment or nuclear energy policy. Drawn into internal struggles, the party cannot determine its direction.

Decline of Your Party is more apparent than Restoration Party. Not being able to support its leader’s attitude too close to Abe, some legislators left the party to raise a new party last year. After President Yoshimi Watanabe got into a quagmire of money scandal, Your Party chose another leader, Kei-ichiro Asao, whose political standpoint is not clearly recognized to the public.

Yuinotoh, established by escapers of Your Party, is looking for its policy partners. While it looks to merge with Restoration Party, Ishihara is reluctant to it, labeling Yuinotoh as constitutional protectionists.

Looking those troubles in mid-size and small parties, reformers in Democratic Party of Japan got sober in reshuffling of opposite parties. One of those leaders, Goshi Hosono, established his faction inside DPJ, only to support current leadership of DPJ. However, other leaders in the party do not show any political integration, lagging behind in regaining their lost causes. It will take time to make a core of structural reform of the opposites.

Research and Concealment

This government profoundly fools the people. After the research on the residents in Fukushima about their exposition to nuclear radiation, the government had been concealing the result at least for a half year. The result showed that higher radiation than long-term goal of decontamination still remained. Without providing the people with actual data of radiation, the government started returning policy in some districts inside evacuation area.

The Life Supporting Team for Sufferers of Nuclear Accident in the Cabinet Office exercised research to calculate radiation in three districts, city of Tamura and Villages of Kawauchi and Iidate, last August and September. It was done both on space radiation and actual exposition of human body to compare both results. Although the team wrapped the data up as quick as in last October, it did not disclose how much the residents received nuclear radiation.

While the team explained that the result was in interim condition and should not be open until final data would be determined, the government required the people in one of those researching places, City of Tamura, whether they would go back home or not, after the evacuation order was lifted early this month. In short, the government offered returning home without accurate data on radiation.

According final data that the government reluctantly revealed with request of the media, radiation in three districts were mostly higher than the threshold of 1 milli-Siebert per year for long-term goal of decontamination efforts. In Miyakoji area of Tamura City, the radiation marked 2.3 mSv for forestry workers, 0.9 to 1.2 mSv for farmers and 0.7 for teachers. It jumped up in Kawauchi and Iidate. Radiation for forestry workers in Kawauchi was 5.5.mSv and 2.1 mSv for old agers. In Iidate, the research found highest amount of 17 mSv for forestry workers and 11.2 mSv for teachers.

International Atomic Energy Agency drew a line on 20 mSv per year as the threshold of acceptable exposition to radiation. There is an argument that those places in Fukushima are safe enough for living. However, the argument is something ongoing in Tokyo, where natural radiation is as low as 0.2 mSv. Most people in Fukushima do not allow 20 mSv threshold on that high man-made radiation.

Knowing that kind of sentiment in Fukushima, the government tried to back off the data not to bring “panic” on the people. But it was that government which created panic criticisms when they concealed the data of radiation calculator in Fukushima right after the accident in the nuclear power plant three years ago. People fell in a panic in looking for the place to escape from radioactive fallings. The government has learned nothing from their own experience. There is no government wiser than its people.

Reluctant to Salary Cut

Cheerful, bold, determined, rich, conspiratorial, cunning and selfish. Those are common images people have on political leaders. Now, Japanese lawmakers has been revealing their reluctance on continuing reward cut, which started right after the Great East Japan Earthquake three year ago. They suffer both from low income and skeptical eyes of the nation. This is obviously a matter of moral obligation.

After the unprecedented disaster, the lawmakers decided to introduce new taxes to earn costs for the reconstruction of devastated area. Most people thought the tax would be inevitable to support their fellow citizens. Then, the question was about what political leaders could to them. The answer was “Ok, we reduce our salary to contribute the helping effort.”

In May 2011, they cut their monthly reward by 13% to contribute the reconstruction budget, and at the end of the year added 7% cut until the reduction of number of seats in both Houses would be achieved. Monthly reward for lawmakers was consequently reduced from ¥1.294 millions to ¥1.035 million.

The most reluctant is leading Liberal Democratic Party. It has a number of freshmen after the last lower house election, who are generally unstable in financial aspect. To avoid corruption, the government strictly regulates political money. Campaign money is basically provided through political parties. LDP is suffering from uncontrollable frustration of young lawmakers who require money for their political activities. “Should the lawmakers suffer from dire straits?” told LDP Secretary General, Shigeru Ishiba.

New Komeito argues that 7% cut should be continued, even if they abolish the rest of 13%. While Your Party upholds 30% cut of salary and 50% cut of bonus, Restoration Party has sharp rift inside between 10 % cut and 30% cut. Democrats and Communists are making slow progress, saying “We are under consideration.”

They need to fix the problem soon, because current salary cut is facing expiration at the end of this month. But the thing is that they are waiting for it, preparing a justification of “Well, we tried hard but we could not reach a deal because of someone else’s rigorous protests.”

But their effort for reconstruction has low profile from the perspectives of the public. Over two hundred thousands people are still in evacuation, decontamination efforts in Fukushima are significantly slow and economic policy causes high price of raw materials necessary for reconstruction. Only active in requiring their own benefits, the lawmakers appear to be disturbances for helping suffering people.

Escape It!

Here is a common saying. To urge passengers on a sinking ship to dive into the sea, captain would say “Dive, gentlemen” to the British, “You can be a hero” to the Americans, “You may find girl friend there” to the Italian, and “Everyone does it” to the Japanese. How would he say to the Koreans?

It is not joking for the families of passengers on a ship sinking off the west coast of South Korea on Wednesday. By Thursday morning, 6 deaths and 277 missing and 179 rescued out of 462 passengers were confirmed. There is a report that the captain told passengers to stay in the cabin. He is suspected not to have acknowledged the situation of his ship. The majority of them were high school students. While the United States decided to send an amphibious assault ship to help efforts by marine police and military of South Korea, there is no news for Japanese government to take any action to cooperate with South Korea, with which diplomatic relationship has been seriously deteriorated.

It must have been a difficult decision to escape the ship. Temperature of the seawater around the ship was significantly cold, not allowing passengers surviving a long time. Tide stream was so fast and strong that rescue team could not reach the ship easily. However, many TV watchers might have a question why all the life rafts are firmly tied to the gunwale.

Off the coast of Izu Peninsula, Japan, on Wednesday, Izu Oshima memorized one half anniversary of heavy landside killing 39 people there last fall. The mayor told to an interview that he regretted not to have ordered evacuation at that time. Because of dark and rainy midnight, he hesitated to let those people get out of their homes. Consequently, victims were in the house when landslide occurred.

Meanwhile in Tokyo, Town Mayor of Minami-Sanriku, Jin Sato, estimated the amount of victims in the Great East Japan Earthquake must have been exceeded ten thousands, if it had happened in the midnight. The quake and tsunami actually happened afternoon and caused 824 deaths and missings. Sato emphasized the importance of preparation for the worst case.

All those episodes are about risk management. It is obvious from those stories that leaders may not always make rational decision in actual crisis. The most important is always keeping available way for evacuation. Building broad roads for escaping tsunami or serious accident in nuclear power plant, making evacuation plan with close looking at vulnerable hills to heavy rain and developing feasible technology to store enough number of life boats muse be working in emergency.

Unofficial Diplomacy Activating

A typical society for local young leaders born with silver spoon in their mouth in Japan is called Junior Chamber. In China, the Crown Prince Party, or Taizidang, has a great influence in current administration. Japan treated one of the prominent figures in the party with extraordinarily warm hospitality. That was because Japanese leaders believed that he was a close friend of Chinese President, Xi Jinping, and would contribute to improve deteriorated bilateral relationship.

It was a week later when media realized that the vice-chairman of All-China General Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Hu Deping, had met with Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe early this month. Hu is a son of former national leader, Hu Yaobang, and a long-time acquaintance of Xi as members of Taizidang. News reports assumed that Abe had told Hu his willingness for improving Japan-China relationship. Hu brought a photograph of him and Abe together, when Abe had been a secretary of his father, former Minister of Foreign Affiars, Shintaro Abe.

During his visit, Hu met with some of the top political leaders in Japan. Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yoshihide Suga, revealed that he stressed the importance of Japan-China relationship and necessity of maintaining it with overwhelming grip to get back to the relation based on “strategic reciprocity,” a concept which Abe explored in his first administration. Hu replied with his intention to tell it to Chinese leaders.

The expectation of Japanese leaders is Hu’s visit marks turning point of diplomacy toward China. Not only those highest leaders, Hu met other political and economic leaders in Japan, including former Premier, Yasuo Fukuda or former Chairman of the House of Representatives, Yohei Kono, known as Kono statement that expressed apologizing on comfort women issue. After the meeting, Kono visited China and met with Vice-Premier, Wang Yang. While criticizing Abe administration, Wang showed his expectation to progress in economic relationship.

Vice-President of Liberal Democratic Party, Masahiko Komura, is another non-governmental diplomat to China. Komura explained Hu the discussion over admitting exercise of collective self-defense right in his party. Komura is planning to visit China later this month or early May. The Governor of Tokyo, Yoichi Masuzoe, is also going to visit Beijing to discuss hosting Olympic games and cooperation in environmental policy.

All those developments between the two nations are still limited to unofficial level. Open dialogue between two governments will take more time. It is unclear whether Japanese right wing movements can withstand psychologically weak diplomacy against China.

Reluctance in Renewable Energy

As United Sates Secretary of State, John Kerry, referred to, new report of international forum of scientists on climate change became a wake-up call for countries, obviously including Japan. Its reluctance on increasing the share of renewable energy in all resources makes it difficult in setting an ambitious goal of reducing carbon dioxide emission. Reputation of Japan as one of the top runners in climate change is gradually eroded.

Prescription the scientists delivered was filled with serious warning for the future of the planet earth. The report released by a working group of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicted that by 2050 the world would need to reduce greenhouse gas emission by 40 to 70% from the level in 2010 for holding temperature crime within 2 degree Celsius compared to the level of the industrial revolution. To achieve that goal, the panel recommended raising the share of low carbon energy, the renewable and nuclear generation, from current 30% to 80%.

While it was a good news for Japanese government that the panel regarded nuclear energy as a “base load resource,” the expression which the government used in new Energy Basic Plan earlier this month, the goal was too ambitious to implement. For some reasons to protect existing business in Japan, or by lobbying of major industries, the government did not set clear goal for increasing renewable energy. In this country still suffering from serious consequence of nuclear power plant in Fukushima, it is unlikely to raise the share of nuclear power to contribute achieving the goal of 80%.

There are a lot of restraints for renewable energy in Japan. In addition to scarcity of the land, bureaucrats are highly negative in deregulation for turning farmlands into the land for solar generation. They are also reluctant in increasing wind power, attributing it to environmental impacts that include catching wild birds or noise for residents around. Although Japan has a great potential in geothermal, there is no outstanding governmental plan for developing it.

It is likely that Japan keeps on saying “Okay, we’re just doing it.” Minister of Environment, Nobuteru Ishihara, announced Japan’s implementation of the 6% mandate on greenhouse gas reduction in Kyoto Protocol. “Japan reduced greenhouse gas emission by 8.4% in average between 2008 to 2012, greatly exceeded the mandatory line of 6%,” told Ishihara on Tuesday. But the situation now has significantly changed from the time of Kyoto Protocol in 1997. To maintain the structure of national governance dominated by bureaucracy, Japan is stepping down from the status as an environmental leader.

Approach to the Peninsula

For some reasons, the diplomatic section of the Japanese government is recently positive in dealing with issues related to the Korean Peninsula. Dialogues with the Koreans in official level are getting into next steps. North Korea has reportedly expressed its willingness to review its investigation on abductees inside. To South Korea, Japanese officials are showing seriousness on resuming top meeting. There still waits a long way to go.

In a bilateral talk in Beijing last month, the North raised its intention to accept Japan’s request to reinvestigate Japanese abductees, with a condition of demanding partial lifting of economic sanction by Japan. After execution of an official, Jang Sung-taek, uncle-in-law of the First Secretary Kim Jong-un, the North has been suffered from ill relationship with its biggest economic supporter, China.

Realizing that abduction issue was one of the most appealing policies for Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, the Kim administration focused on drawing compromise from Japan. Japan has been using status of a building in Tokyo, in which North Korea has settled its de facto representative office in Japan. After being auctioned off, the building was bought by a Japanese real estate company. This sober attitude of Japanese government might have urged the North compromise.

Toward South Korea, The Chief of Asia-Pacific Bureau in Ministry of Foreign Affairs left Tokyo to Seoul for exploring an opportunity of summit talk between Abe and President Park Geun-hye. Though the trilateral summit talk adding U.S. President Barack Obama in Hague ended in sober mood, it was a significant step for both leaders to breathe the same air at one table. The officials of both nations are working to normalize the bilateral relationship to the extent for both leaders to go and back both countries, as shown few years before.

The prospect is nothing optimistic. The North is showing no sign to deal with nuclear and missile issue with Japan. The North has traditionally been watching U.S. behind Japan, whenever it is positive to negotiate with Japan. It is possible that Kim administration is camouflaging its hidden development of nuclear weapons and missiles, as it did in 2002, when Kim Jong-il accepted Premier Jun-ichiro Koizumi to Pyongyang. Appeasement of Japan to the North may invite criticisms abroad.

The South is raising comfort women issue in the bureau chief level meeting with Japan. While the issue is political Achilles tendon of Abe, it is difficult for Tokyo to compromise to Seoul. Zero tolerance on this issue will not be changed in the administration of Park as the female president of the nation. There is no breakthrough found for now.

Invitation to Hiroshima

The have-nots of nuclear weapons in the world announced their commitment to achieving the goal of the world free from threat of that inhumane war device. Hiroshima Declaration, delivered by twelve foreign ministers of non-nuclear weapon countries including Japan, Germany, Canada or Australia, invited all of the world political leaders to Hiroshima and Nagasaki to witness the consequences of a nuclear war. The people who knocked the cities down, and who are able to do that, will hear all of the words soon.

The declaration was a resolution of ministers meeting of Non-proliferation and Disarmament Initiative, which is one of the preparation frameworks for Review Conference of Non-Proliferation Treaty next year. Foreign Ministers discussed their commitment to urging further effort of reduction of nuclear weapons. Hearing from survivors of an atomic bomb in Hiroshima in August 1945, ministers reconfirmed the inhumanity of nuclear weapon that not only killed a great number of innocent people at a moment, but tormented survivors forever.

While welcoming bilateral disarmament measures by the United States and Russia, represented by new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, Hiroshima Declaration expressed deep concern on new build-ups of nuclear arsenals. “We urge those not yet engaged in nuclear disarmament efforts to reduce their arsenals with the objective of their total elimination,” emphasized the declaration. In the interpretations of Japanese media, the words were delivered not only to North Korea and Iran, but to China. It reflected uneasiness of the host nation over growing uncertainty in security in Northeast Asia.

NPDI for the first time experienced the attendance of U.S. delegation as a guest. It is possible that U.S. tried to take a standpoint closer to nuclear elimination efforts with an intention of highlighting reluctance of other nuclear powers. However, President Barack Obama has still not shown the way to implement his words in Prague Speech in 2009, in which he proposed the world free from nuclear weapon. Nuclear weapons still exist as a resource of international power politics.

One survivor in Hiroshima told years ago that he did not hate America, or supposedly decided not to do that, but instead he hated war. The episode indicated that the fastest way to eliminate all nuclear weapons would be eliminating wars, since the world without war would need no nuclear weapon. In fact, waging all-out war is getting difficult as recently shown in Syria or Ukraine. Let imagination of warless world work.