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between J apan and Amer ica to
have Japanese bu sinessmen and
tourists robbed, mugged and even
murdered on the st reets of major
U.S. cities such as Los Angeles!
Whlther Japan?
It
is extremely significant that at
this stage in J apan's post-World
War 11 history, a "new style" lead–
er for the As ían power has emerged
on the scene.
Yas uhiro Nakasone, who as–
.sumed the office of prime minister
on November 26, 1982, promises to
break the mold of recent " decision–
by-consensus" politicians (see com–
mentary below).
In an interview in the December
14, 1982,
Wall Street Journal,
Mr.
Nakasone said: "Often the tendency
of Orientals has been to be rather
vague, opaque and foggy, but my
style is different. I want to get rid of
opaqueness and fogginess and clarify
my position as muchas possible."
Mr. Nakasone stresses that the
bedrock relationship of all that
must be preserved is the tie to
America. Washington , with its
"nuclear umbrella," preserves J ap–
anese freedom and independence.
At the same time, the new prime
minister is expected to call for his
own count rymen to pick up more of
t he ir own national defense. An
extension of this wou ld be a pol icy
he favors-that of Japanese forces
having the capabi lity to protect
vital ocean sea lanes as far as 1,000
miles from Japan.
Mr. Nakasone is cer tainly no
mi litarist, but he would favor the
rewriting of J apan's postwar cons ti–
tu tion-orde red by the Ame ri–
cans- and its cont roversia! Article
Nine. Under the terms of this pro-
vision, the J apanese were forced to
renounce wa r as a "soverei gn
right." Article Nine also states that
" Japan will never maintain land,
sea and air forces, as well as other
potential forces for war."
Mr. Nakasone has long main–
tained that the current constitution
compromises Japan's sovereignty. In
any sense, the so-called air, land and
sea "self-defense" forces that J apan
already possesses make somewhat of
a mockery of Article Nine.
Mr. Nakasone is also on record
as calling for the restoration of the
Emperor as head-of-state.
U.S. Pressure, Aslan Fears
Many influe ntial voices in the
United States, inc luding that of
Secretary of Defense Casper Wein–
berger, have also been pressuring
the J apanese in the direction of
limited rearmament.
The general consensus in Wash–
ington is that Japan should do more
in its own self-defense, if nothing
else, to help redress the enormous
balance-of-payments problem be–
tween Washington and Tokyo. Japan
has an unwritten rule of not spending
more than 1 percent of its GNP on
defense (as opposed to about 6.6 per–
cent for the United States).
Not a few observers-in J apan
as well as all over Asia-are highly
dubious over the prospects of a
greater militarized J apan.
For example, a top South Korean
government official recently told an
American visitar in Seoul that the
United States ought to be very cau–
tious about pushing J apan to boost
its defense spending. The resul t, a
few years down the road, he said ,
could be J apan attempting a policy
of military super iority in Asia, res-
urrecting fears of what happened
more than 40 years ago when Japa–
nese expansion in As ia brought
nation after another under the heel
of Tokyo's "Greater East Asia Co–
Prosperity Sphere."
Perhaps the most vivid reserva–
tion to such a development was
expressed by President Ferdinand
Marcos of the Pbilippines. Presi–
dent Marcos was a hero in his
country during its occupation by
Japanese forces in World War
ll .
Interviewed o n an Ame rican
telecast program early in 1982,
President Marcos was in a general–
ly jovial mood . But when the ques–
tion carne up about whether he
approved of a greater military role
for Japan in As ia, his countenance
s udden l y a nd dramatical l y
changed. " Oh, no!" he shot back,
grimly looking at his q uestioners.
Textbooks and New Revelatlons
Adding fue! to the fire of Asían
suspicions of J apan's future course
was the great textbook controversy
during t he summer of 1982.
Officials in nations throughout
the region exploded in anger when
it was learned that Japan's educa–
tion ministry had approved o f
changes in school textbooks dealing
with J apan's mil itary activities dur–
ing th-e war. (Example: the J apa–
nese milita ry "advanced" into
north China rather than " invaded,"
as in older books.)
The changes had been pres–
sured by circles in J apan that had
wanted to res tore, in their own
way, sorne honor to the rece nt
pas t. They claimed that earlier
books had been written by "paci–
fist leftists," who stripped J apan's
youth of patriotism and respect
leave his own distinctive
mark on Japan during his
tenure as that nation's 17th
postwar prime minister.
attracted public attention.
In 1951, the young
parliamentarian sent a
7,000-word petition to
General Oouglas MacArthur
urging an early end to the
U.S. occupation of Japan
and a restoration of
complete Japanese
independence. 8oth
objectives became reality
the following year , but Mr .
Nakasone's "insolence" in
so aggressively asserting his
views earned him an
unfavorable reputation in the
eyes of American
occupation authorities.
gai'ned his country's top
office last November 26,
following the surprise
resignation of Zenko
Suzuki.
Prime Minister Nakasone
was born May 27 , 1918, the
son of a lumber dealer. He
graduated from the
prestigious Tokyo University
in 1941 . Ouring World War
11
he served as a naval officer.
In April , 1947, Mr .
Nakasone won his first
election to parliament, at the
age of 28. lt was not long
before his outspoken views
Mr . Nakasone was also a
critic of the 1952
U.S.-Japanese security
treaty and an early advocate
of a stronger Japanese
military posture.
In the course of his
three-and-one-half decades
in public service, Mr .
Nakasone served in
numerous government
offices, including director of
the Japan Defense Agency.
Yasuhiro Nakasone
With strong backing from
former prime minister Kakuei
Tanaka, Mr. Nakasone
successfully overcame fierce
intraparty opposition to win
the presidency of the Liberal
Democratic Party, Japan's
ruling party since 1955. Two
days later he was elected
prime minister by the LDP
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