It’s why they call their military a defense force, and even that seems to make a lot of their public uncomfortable. The Japanese people have taken pacifism into their collective consciousness and it’s been remarkable how steadfast they are towards it.
The problem is, as you say if China takes Taiwan it will be an existential threat to Japan, as it will put them squarely in China’s sites. I think the CCP, more than anything, has pushed the Japanese to try and find a new balance between the pacifism they want and protecting themselves from a very real threat.
I agree. And they are admirable for sticking to that so long and so strongly.
From the few friends I still have in Japan, it’s a really, really painful change, and definitely, not everyone is on board with it. I think at the government level they know they need to do something, but the regular citizens find it almost unbearable and difficult. I remember going to the peace temples and monuments (I forget what they actually call them) that are strewn all around the islands and seeing the people going there and standing in line. It really was moving to me. It’s sad that they even have to worry about this stuff. I wish they didn’t.
For a century now, Japan has pretty much never had a “normal” military or attitude towards a military. Either it was hyper-aggressive (leading up to, and during, WW2,) or else it was abnormally pacifist. It’s time for it to be normalized like all other normal nations.
I talked to some friends about Senkaku and China and the general idea was that they don’t see it as a really big deal yet. It would only become a bigger deal is China started to actually force the issue.
I was actually talking about the general remilitarization trend in the past 3 governments, at least as perceived by the Japanese people. I do agree that currently the Senkaku islands are not perceived as a huge deal, but that people are certainly aware that this could change depending on what the CCP does going forward. They are the real drivers of the tension on this, as in a lot of things.
I saw earlier that the EU sent an official delegation to Taiwan to tell them, essentially, that Taiwan isn’t alone. I’ve seen some things indicating that the CCP is definitely not happy about this and is lashing back…at Taiwan. They have put several of their politicians on a blacklist and ramped up the rhetoric against the island. Oh, and I saw an amusing thing apparently making the rounds on the mainland that the Taiwanese are panic buying essentials for fear of an invasion. The real story seems to be that Taiwanese were going out and spending some sort of government coupon that was given out as a stimulus because of Covid…something the mainlanders really wouldn’t understand, as the CCP doesn’t do this sort of general stimulus.
