Japan contracts "measles of mankind"

[Mulboyne]

The whole of this FT article is subscription only but you can get a taster from this opening paragraph:
FT.com: There are dangers in Japan's search for normality

Anyone who agrees with Albert Einstein that nationalism is an infantile disease - "the measles of mankind" - should start worrying about the health of Japan's body politic. Nationalism is not new to Japan, and Tokyo's unrepentant portrayal of its role in the second world war has long been unfavourably compared with the cathartic soul-searching of postwar Germany. However, we are now witnessing a resurgence of Japanese nationalism strident enough to worry the country's neighbours. More and more Japanese politicians are adopting patriotic causes that were once the preserve of the eccentric rightwingers who deafen pedestrians with slogans shouted through loudspeakers from vans in the streets of Tokyo.

If I dig out the rest online, I'll post it later.

[FG Lurker]

Compliments of BugMeNot.com:

Anyone who agrees with Albert Einstein that nationalism is an infantile disease - "the measles of mankind" - should start worrying about the health of Japan's body politic.

Nationalism is not new to Japan, and Tokyo's unrepentant portrayal of its role in the second world war has long been unfavourably compared with the cathartic soul-searching of postwar Germany. However, we are now witnessing a resurgence of Japanese nationalism strident enough to worry the country's neighbours. More and more Japanese politicians are adopting patriotic causes that were once the preserve of the eccentric rightwingers who deafen pedestrians with slogans shouted through loudspeakers from vans in the streets of Tokyo.

After years of being harangued by their former victims, especially China, many Japanese feel, rightly or wrongly, that the time for apologies is over. They yearn to be citizens of a "normal" country. They are content to see Junichiro Koizumi, the prime minister, edge Japan away from the pacifism and diffidence that have been its watchwords in foreign affairs since the end of the war.

In the north, Mr Koizumi is pushing for the return of four Russian-inhabited islands. In the south, the government is vigorously asserting rights over islands and oilfields also claimed by China. Teachers in Tokyo, where Shintaro Ishiharo, a rightwinger, is governor, are disciplined if they refuse for reasons of conscience to sing the imperial national anthem in public while standing before the flag.

There would be less reason to fret about Japan's latest outbreak of nationalism if it were not part of an epidemic across north-east Asia.

China's economic rise has fuelled Beijing's own vociferous brand of nationalism and brought it into diplomatic conflict with Tokyo. The two countries are competing for the oil exports of the Middle East and Russia, and China, in its hunger for natural resources, is extending its influence throughout Asia.

Taiwanese nationalism adds another uncomfortable twist to the region's security problems. China is adamant that the island, already independent in all but name, must eventually be reincorporated into China, if necessary by force. Japan, which ruled Taiwan for half a century, officially accepts that there is only "one China" but sympathises with Taiwan and sees it as a security buffer between mainland China and Japan's southern islands.

An angry Beijing has therefore added Japan's recent granting of a visa to Lee Teng-hui, the former Taiwanese president and independence campaigner, to its list of grievances. China is already fuming over Mr Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni, the Tokyo shrine where war criminals are among the warriors commemorated.

The one Pacific power that is prepared to turn a blind eye to the unsavoury side of Japanese nationalism is, ironically, the US, the nation that defeated Japan in war and dictated its pacifist constitution.

George W. Bush and Mr Koizumi - united by their admiration for Gary Cooper in the film High Noon - get on well. The US, distracted by events in Iraq and Iran, heartily supports the notion of its Japanese ally becoming a "normal" country.

Japan and the US co-operate on anti-missile defences, on the assumption that the immediate danger comes from North Korea and the long-term threat from China. Washington is delighted to see Tokyo reinforce and deploy its armed forces to contain China's growing military power, as it did when the Japanese navy chased a Chinese submarine out of Japanese territorial waters near Taiwan in November.

The Japanese nationalism adopted by Mr Koizumi is therefore not the go-it-alone variety. On the contrary, Japan's search for normality and its willingness to assert itself arise partly from its vulnerability, and it is this sense of danger that has prompted Tokyo to strengthen ties with the US.

Even so, those who worry about xenophobic undercurrents in the new, "normal" Japan hope for a more conciliatory leader after Mr Koizumi steps down in 2006. Yet with politicians such as Shoichi Nakagawa, the outspokenly nationalist trade minister, waiting in the wings, they may be disappointed by the direction Japan takes in the future. It all depends what you mean by normal. victor.mallet@ft.com

[Captain Japan]

Friday was Foundation Day, I think. In nursing a slight hangover, I found myself out at the intersection of Meguro Dori and Yamate Dori. A police car was parked in the median. The officer was standing in the middle of the intersection. Strange, I thought, is it "safety week" already?

I started walking down Yamate Dori towards Gotanda and the music started. It was the beginning of a parade of right-wing trucks. Then I noticed more police cars spread out intermitently down Yamate Dori. I looked back and saw the first officer directing traffic so that the first truck in the unit could make its way down the street.

I kept walking. Slowly, truck after truck passed me. Big olive-colored trucks. Some playing music, some just flying flags. I guess there were about 30 or so.

All this was typical Tokyo, I guess, except the police. They were everywhere and ensuring trucks' safe passage.

[FG Lurker]

All this was typical Tokyo, I guess, except the police. They were everywhere and ensuring trucks' safe passage.

I find this kind of thing weird too... But in fairness to the cops they do the same thing for most organized protests. I've seen labour marches etc receive the same sort of treatment in Osaka.

The more random events don't get it -- the big black busses on their semi-random meanderings through the city for example.

[Big Booger]

I say every country has their wacked out right wing hodge podge... but in Japan, they are really wacked. and really right wing.

[Ketou]

I say every country has their wacked out right wing hodge podge... but in Japan, they are really wacked. and really right wing.

Yea, but also less likely to go beating people up because they are the wrong colour.