Rushing Toward Showdown

The Governor of Okinawa, Takeshi Onaga, revoked approval for landfill in coastal area of Henoko in Nago city, which had been issued by his predecessor for the construction of new military base as a replacement of Futenma Airbase of United States Marine Corps. Losing legal basis of the landfill, Ministry of Defense is going to take immediate action to make Onaga’s decision invalid. Opposition between Tokyo and Okinawa seems to have gone beyond the point of no return.

In the press conference on Tuesday, Onaga explained that he found legal defects in the process of approval and concluded that the approval should be cancelled. “I will make my best to implement my campaign promise in the gubernatorial election that was not allowing building new base in Henoko,” told Onaga. His staff in Okinawa local government brought a notification to the office of Okinawa Defense Bureau.

According to the notification, Onaga realized that the reason for appropriateness of building alternative facility of Futenma Air Base in somewhere in Okinawa was baseless. While national government argued that Okinawa had geographical superiority compared to other places in Japan, the notification dismissed it because national government had not indicated any viable reason in terms of time or distance. It also questioned the measures for preserving natural environment around Henoko, based on a research that found destruction of coral in the seabed.

This countermeasure could be predicted months ago. Central government failed to persuade Okinawa to accept current construction plan in concentrated dialogue this summer. Although Okinawa government set a hearing for disputing, ODB did not appeared, arguing that process of approval had been appropriate with no defect. To meet demand of political supporters in Okinawa, Onaga had no way other than revoking the approval.

While Prime Minister Shinzo Abe showed some appeasing attitude, including the pick of a lawmaker elected from Okinawa to the post of Minister for Okinawa Issue in the reshuffle of his Cabinet earlier this month, national government finally lost a choice for peaceful settlement. ODB will dispute the legality of Onaga’s decision to Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism and continue construction in Henoko. Then, it is unavoidable that Okinawa government will make a lawsuit against ODB.

This issue needs to be recognized as opposition between centralization of political power and local sovereignty in Japan. In a beautiful country in Abe’s mind, people blindly follow decision of central government. This is a concept of governance totally obsolete in this civilized world.

Opaque Future for Working Women

Supposedly trying to cover negative elements of his economic policy, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe insists on introducing women power in every aspect of Japanese economy. Receiving request from Abe administration, the Diet passed in August a law to urge Japanese women being involved in society, which was named Active Woman Promoting Act. Without any binding goal, the law is becoming a slogan for bureaucrats who are in charge of women policy.

Concerning weak labor force caused by demographic decline, Active Woman Promoting Act was legislated for creating environment for women to work longer with more job opportunities and promotion in the business ranking. The law requires national and local governments or private firm with 301 or more employees to research gender gap in length of daily work and years of service, or preference in employment and share of women in administrative posts.

However, the law is too weak to change the situation of working women. Those public or private offices have to set numeric target and make action plan for at least one category to improve environment of working women by April 1^st next year. There is no mandate to set penalty for failure in implementation. More disappointing for women, the law will die in 2025. If this was about climate change, the requirement is something like setting emission target for preferable one of six greenhouse gasses free from deadline or penalty. Who in the world will abide by such a slogan?

The law does not cover temporary workers or part-timers, which occupy 60% of all women workers. In other words, the law actually is Highly Educated and Careered Active Women Promotion Act. If a company simply tries to raise the share of women in new employment, it may increase women temporary workers with cheap salary and deteriorated working condition.

Abe administration introduced new target to increase nurseries for working women to drop their kids in daytime. But, it does not solve the problem of raising kids, which requires as more time for a child to be with parent as possible. Japanese employers still insist on long 9-to-5 labor shift. As long as working time does not get shorter and husbands do not recover wife’s role in family, Japanese women cannot be active in society.

Unfortunately, it is unlikely for Japanese Prime Minister to realize that. “In terms of demographic issue, we need to do something for women being active before accepting refugees,” told Abe in a press conference to a question about policy for refugees from Syria. For him, woman policy is simply something more important than refugee issue.

Nanjing Massacre Dispute Returns

Revisionism of Shinzo Abe administration was again targeted by its neighbor nation. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization announced that it registered the documents on Nanjing Massacre, one of the greatest violations against humanity by wartime Japan, in Memory of the World. While Abe and his political aides were working hard, upholding an argument that pre-war Japan has not been so bad, the U.N. body approached an opinion against Japan. There are some more issues, to which its neighbors are focusing for accusing old Japan.

According to Mainichi Shimbun, UNESCO registered eleven documents about Nanjing Massacre, including diary of an administrator of women’s school dormitory, video footage filmed by an American priest, or photographs of raping by Japanese soldiers. In the application form, China argued that Far East War Crime Tribunal had referred to Nanjing Massacre as various atrocities in Nanjing city or slaughter of two hundred thousands of civilians and custodies in the first six weeks. China tried to persuade UNESCO, raising evidences by the third party.

Mainichi quoted opinion of a Chinese official who referred to Abe’s visit to Yasukuni Shrine in December of 2013 as a momentum for China’s political pressure on Japan. Since waning attitude toward Japan might significantly erode political basis of Chinese leader, President Xi Jinping ordered application of Naijing Massacre to Memory of the World at that period of time. Abe’s move to justify Japan’s negative past invited consistent resentment against Japan.

Japan immediately hit out. “The submitted documents were based on China’s unilateral assertions, and Japan believes that there are obvious problems with the documents’ integrity and authenticity,” said a statement issued by a spokesperson with Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Japanese government is supposed to urge UNESCO not to apply the documents as Memory of the World.

However, Japan has no perspective of victory. What Japan disputes is the number of victims, which Japan argues as difficult to determine while China raises three hundred thousands or more. Japan is struggling about a fact no one can determine now. Whether its more or less than three hundred thousands, it must be true that Japanese Imperial Army made a serious violation of international law.

Japan has not submitted evidence that would deny the argument of China. It is well known that Japanese bureaucrats burned a vast amount of official documents just before the surrender in 1945. Dishonest attitude of Japanese bureaucrats on information, which was also seen in the legislature of designated secrecy law, disturbs its dispute in international politics. “We need to review donation to UNESCO,” told Toshihiro Nikai, Chairman of General Council of Liberal Democratic Party, embarrassingly enough. I hope you to have enough money to buy history, Mr. Nikai.

Myths on Okinawa

While officially reiterating that the relocation plan of U.S. Futenma Marine Base to Henoko is the only option as Japanese government supposedly instructed, United States is gradually realizing how difficult the plan is to be achieved. Congressional Research Service indicated in its newest report that political antagonism between Tokyo and Okinawa would be intensified later this year. This is the Japanese version of power struggle between central government and local community that U.S. experienced from the beginning of its history.

According to a report of Japan Times, a CRS report predicted that the political contestation between Tokyo and Okinawa on the relocation plan was entering a new phase late 2015, pointing a possibility of intensified struggle between them over central government’s push to reclaim land. “Despite these advances, concerns remain about the implementation of an agreement to relocate the controversial Futenma base in Okinawa due to opposition from the local population,” said the report, quoting recent development in Japan-U.S. relationship including passing new security bills or update of bilateral security guidelines.

Why does U.S. still misunderstand in this issue? That must be because it looks the problem only from the viewpoint of Tokyo. Mainichi Shimbun raised four myths in Tokyo about Okinawa.

Firstly, Tokyo government tries to persuade the public that relocation of Futenma base is necessary to maintain deterrence of Japan. But, an experienced journalist concludes that U.S. Marine Corp in Okinawa does not have deterrence against other’s offensive action. Most Marine troops in Okinawa are for logistic support, except 31^st Marine Expeditionary Unit. The greatest deterrence, U.S. 7^th Fleet, stations in Yokosuka.

Secondly, Okinawa has been believed to be accepting better treat than any other regions in Japan, because of its heavy burden of U.S. military bases. But, things are different in Okinawa. One lawmaker elected from Okinawa argues that one half of Okinawa Development Budget is used for projects such as removing unexploded bombs, which should be done by national government.

The third myth of unreality of Okinawan independence is baseless because actual scenario is still discussed among the people. The forth one, an argument that relocation is indispensable for maintaining Japan-U.S. alliance to deal with China, is ridiculous, since U.S. has no intention to wage war against China at all.

If U.S. decision makers correctly understand the situation in Okinawa, it will realize how inappropriate for them to stay the course. For U.S. government, Japan is Tokyo, and for Japanese government, America is a few of the stakeholders like Rich Armitage or Joe Nye.

Damage of Security Bills

Protest against new security laws looks not to have ceased after weeks from forcible procedure in the Diet conducted by leading parties, Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito, under the leadership of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Polls indicated that more people did not positively accept Abe’s reshuffling of his Cabinet. His new economic agenda, “Wholly Active A Hundred Million,” was not popular. Abe administration does not show resilience from unilateral initiative in the security issue.

A poll operated by Mainichi Shimbun found that 47% of the people did not positively evaluate reshuffling of Abe Cabinet, surpassing 39% of the approvers. Approval to Abe Cabinet rose by 4 points to 39%, reducing non-approval by 7 points to 43%. In the survey by Kyodo News Agency, the approval increased by 6 points as much as 45%, while non-approval declined by 9 points to 41%. Abe’s scheduling of Cabinet reshuffling right after passage of the security bills seemed to achieve certain success.

It is still unclear whether the reshuffling strategy fully worked. In Mainichi poll, 57% of the subjects did not positively evaluate new security legislation, while the 31% approved. The tendency against the legislature has not changed from previous survey last month right after the passage of the bills. Consistent frustration among the people appeared in the result that the 57% would consider the passage of security bills in their voting in coming election of the House of Councillors next summer, while the 32% would ignore.

Protest against the security legislation continues. Civil groups marched around the Official Residence of Prime Minister in Tokyo last Friday, raising banner of “Let’s Make Supporters Fail in Election.” One professor of University of Tokyo proposed broad movement to decrease the seat of Abe’s supporters in the Diet. His proposal included questioning open to the public why the legislator approved the security bills, how would he/she say against argument of unconstitutionality of the bills, and how could he/she have preserved constitutionalism about the passage of the legislation.

Abe is focusing his political agenda on amendment of the Constitution of Japan after the election next summer. Achieving two-third majority in the House of Councillors can pave the way to take initiative for the amendment. However, Japanese citizens are not ready for giving up its post-war pacifism through abolishing Article 9 of the Constitution, which renounces war as a way to settle international conflicts. Wind still blows against Abe.

Wholly Active A Hundred Million

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reshuffled his Cabinet on Wednesday. Not implementing his words to encourage women’s involvement in society, number of female Ministers declined. While Abe hoped to regain popularity with his determination to revitalize Japanese economy, the concept was too weak to be recognized as the key element for the future. Abe administration looks like drifting without any obvious direction to go.

Abe picked Katsunobu Kato for Minister for Wholly Active A Hundred Million, which is officially interpreted as Minister in Charge of Promoting Dynamic Engagement of All Citizens in Cabinet Office homepage. In the press conference, Abe introduced Kato as the captain for social reform.

Kato was a former elite bureaucrat in Minister of Finance, named Katsunobu Murosaki, and changed his name when he married with a daughter of one of the bosses of a fraction in Liberal Democratic Party, Mutsuki Kato, who was a close colleague of Abe’s father, Shintaro Abe. It is common for a bureaucrat who wants to be a politician to be married with a daughter for succeeding her father’s political legacy, even changing his surname. In other words, Abe relied on bureaucracy for his agenda called New Three Arrows.

One of the three arrows, ¥600 trillion of gross domestic products in 2020, would still be a hard target to achieve. Governor of Bank of Japan, Haruhiko Kuroda, indicated a possibility of delay of reaching the goal of 2% inflation in the first half of 2016 on Wednesday. Although Abe insists that Japan has gotten rid of deflation from people’s mind, the people are growingly frustrated with accumulation of policies damaging their ordinary life.

The second target, hopeful birth rate of 1.8 in the middle of 2020’s, is also unrealistic. Young couples hesitate to give birth not because nursery for their kids is in short, but overwhelming uneasiness for the future, being affiliated to lower layer of the society. An episode that Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yoshihide Suga, was accused by young people in his statement on a marriage of popular movie star, hoping mothers to give more birth attracted by marriage of celebrity, showed indifference of policy leaders. The third target of zero job loss caused by taking care of parents is inappropriate as a target, because it is not verifiable.

Because what the leader wants to do is not clear, it is difficult to assess new Cabinet. Since core members, such as Suga or Finance Minister Taro Aso, have not changed, political direction will not be so different from former one. Abe Cabinet will still be hawkish and revisionistic.

Ethnic Pride Rewarded

The front page of newspapers was largely occupied by news about Nobel Prizes awarded to Japanese scholars for two consecutive days. As if escaping from controversial and complicated issues like new security bills, news media competed each other in reporting this uncontroversially happy story. The Japanese got delighted with international endorsement on academic findings several decades ago, preserving ethnic pride that the Japanese were smart and diligent.

Professor Emeritus in Kitasato University, Satoshi Omura, won Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his development of Avermectin, an anti-parasitic drug that helped hundreds of millions of life in Africa, with his colleague in America. The Japanese realized that a former high school teacher found antibiotic in soil around golf course in Japan in 1970s that prevented river blindness of the people in Africa suffering from epidemic.

News media introduced Omura as a man working for others. Stories about his family in a local city in central Japan, his determination in chemistry after he taught in evening high school, or sincere interest in microbes were commonly disclosed. Grabbing an opportunity for raising his declining supporting rate, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made a telephone call to Omura, congratulating him with nationalistic words of “I’m really proud of you as a Japanese.”

The enthusiasm did not end in a day. On Tuesday, the second day of Nobel Prize Week, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced that Nobel Prize in Physics went to Takaaki Kajita, President of Institute of Cosmic Rays Research in Tokyo University, who found mass of neutrinos. “Neutrino study in Japan that challenged mystery in the space won the supreme honor,” praised Asahi Shimbun.

Following the study of Masatoshi Koshiba, a recipient of the same prize in 2002, Kajita discovered transformation of neutrino in a laboratory named Super Kamiokande in late 1990s. The finding was interpreted as a great step to understand why materials existed in the space. “It is not useful immediately, but extending horizon of humankind,” told Kajita in his press conference.

The Japanese like to congratulate people who are respected in international society. In sports, Ichiro Suzuki and Kei Nishikori are heroes who appealed great skill of the Japanese. Nobel Prize is one of the greatest events in which Japanese sentiment on its ethnic supremacy, flourished in wartime Japan, could be fulfilled. But as long as seeing recent tendency of political consideration appeared in Nobel Peace Prize to Barack Obama, authority of the prize cannot be said as absolute.