People-to-People Diplomacy on a Japanese Ship

[cstaylor]

People-to-People Diplomacy on a Japanese Ship

People-to-people exchanges are the bread and butter of Peace Boat, a gadfly organization that arranges cruises around the world, dropping anchor in many places where the Japanese government would rather it not. A spokesman for the Japanese Foreign Ministry called the ship's visit here "outrageous."

[cstaylor]

Think about it. The Japanese "Peace Constitution" is a victors constitution shoved down the Japanese throats

Not sure what you're saying here. Are you saying that the constituion is invalid because it was forced upon the Japanese, or are you saying that the only way the Japanese would ever have a constitution proclaiming peace is by force?

[cstaylor]

Yes, the Constitution is disfunctional because it was forced

Well, considering the alternatives before them (a starving population aching for release from the bonds of feudalism... possibly a red revolution), and that Hirohito supported the new constitution and pushed for its adoption, and that Japanese groups aggitate over keeping article 9, I'd say that it has had a beneficial effect on the Japanese.

And yes, Japanese would never have a constitution proclaiming peace unless they lost so utterly bad, they had give up trying.

I really can't imagine any country writing this into their body of law willingly... but as long as Japan keeps it intact, there's hope for the rest of the world.

Japanese politics are so screwed because the Japanese never internalized the concepts forced on them.

I'd say that it would have been better for the Japanese people if the Occupation forces had brought some guillotines along for the unrepentant ruling class that desperately tried to hold onto their Meiji constitution.

As some fart-head Frenchy like Rousseau argued that society requires consent

Only a functional democracy... but for a country under the jackboot of the Peace Preservation Laws of pre-WW2, anything had to be better than that (even in MacArthur's convoluted prose).