Japan Rethinks Yasukuni as It Matures Into a World Power

The Weekly Standard had a very interesting piece last week about Japan’s “quiet revolution” in military policy. Thanks to North Korea (and probably as a result of China’s unilateral arms race, too) Japan is rearming. There are several obstacle to this, and the Abe government is moving to overcome all of them. First is Japan’s own pacifist streak; that ended in 1988 when North Korea shot a Taepondong over Honshu. Second is Japan’s constitution, specifically Article 9’s renunciation of war. The Standard piece explains that this had previously been interpreted to prohibit collective self-defense with allies, such as the United States, and for even such defensive purposes as missile defense. Shinzo Abe is moving beyond that outdated interpretation.

Third, Japan’s neighbors see Japan’s failure to reconcile its rearmament with how things worked out the last time it armed itself. Japan is held to a high burden to prove that it understands the responsible uses of power. In fact, Japan is a democratic society that could not muster popular support for wars of conquest, but that is irrelevant to those in China and South Korea who would exploit legitimate grievances for cynical interests in keeping Japan disarmed. Japan is now showing signs of moving beyond those issues, too.

An internal debate is under way in Japan to transform a controversial shrine, a target of fierce opposition from neighboring countries, a deputy Japanese foreign ministry spokesman said here Friday. Tomohiko Taniguchi, speaking at the Brookings Institution, said his government would welcome the revival of high-level tripartite consultations with Seoul, Tokyo and Washington.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso had suggested in May that the Yasukuni Shrine be “secularized,” enabling the government to remove the class-A war criminals honored at the shrine. The principle of separation of church and state prevents the Japanese government from making such a request, but changing the shrine into a non-religious entity would make it possible without controversy.

….
“That now is the time for the shrine to turn itself around seems to have resonated widely among the congregation and a group of politicians,” Taniguchi said. “The point that Minister Aso is making as a politician is that Yasukuni has to change if Yasukuni wants to survive in the 21st century,” he said.

“One should hope that the debate is going to produce a result with which Yasukuni can change itself.”
The spokesman said “comradeship” has grown among Japan, South Korea and the United States, giving hopes that tripartite consultations could be institutionalized.

The comments of the Japanese official tie this welcome development to diffusing hostility with South Korea, Japan’s natural ally against a hegemonic China and a menacing North Korea. Japan’s older generation, which had demanded the honoring of the war criminals, is dying off. Newer generations, though certainly not fully conscious of their country’s history, are moving beyond the banzai spirit. A strong and free Japan is a development we should welcome, particularly if Japan demonstrates that its new values are far better than its old ones.

It’s a start, at least. I hope secularization will mean updating plaques like these at adjacent the Yasukuni Museum.

Top pic from Reuters: Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) destroyer Kurama (L) leads the MSDF fleet during a rehearsal ahead of next Sunday’s naval fleet review, at Sagami Bay off Yokohama October 22, 2006. Japan plans to monitor ships heading to North Korea in waters off its western and southern coasts following the U.N. resolution to punish Pyongyang for its nuclear test. Second pic: from the Yasukuni Web site.