Diary 12.8
Recently, China has taken an anti-Japanese stance because of certain remarks made by Prime Minister Takaichi. Yet no one clearly points out the fact that Japan is a country that renounces war under its Constitution. Japan has only the Self-Defense Forces. Meanwhile, China holds large-scale military parades every year. Japan has no conscription system, and young people here are not prepared for combat. Our biggest parade is something like the Hanshin Tigers’ championship parade. By any objective measure, it is China—not Japan—that shows militaristic tendencies.
Japan was defeated more than 80 years ago, and since then we have built a very friendly relationship with the United States. The people from that era have already passed away. China continues to bring up the war and criticize Japan, yet around 30 years ago, many Japanese engineers went to China to teach technology that contributed to China’s development today.
Japan has no army and no conscription. We should state this more clearly. Every country has the right to defend itself. Even Switzerland has a military. Naturally, preparing defenses and building missile bases to protect the nation is the minimum right any country possesses. Again, no matter how you look at it, the country leaning toward militarism is China.
So why does Japan keep avoiding the issue and fail to speak up with a reasonable argument? Perhaps it is because of concerns such as rare-earth dependencies. Even so, Japan should clearly assert that every nation has the right to protect itself.