#64: On the Day War Ended (PART 1)

【Convert SDF to Disaster Relief Team】
August 15 is a truly significant day. It’s the day that World War II ended in 1945 as Militarist Japan surrendered.
 
From that day forward, Japan has largely avoided taking part in a war, and its peace maintained. Such exceptional feat started from an extraordinary first step – the embrace of its pacifist Constitution, a truly noble constitution that Japan can rightfully pride itself to the world.
 
The prime foundation of the pacifist Constitution is embedded in Article 9. Titled Renunciation of War, it states “Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes”. It further promises “land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained.”
 
In pursuit of global peace, we will not fight another war, not threaten with weapons, and not maintain armed forces or any weapon with war potential. And that is, forever. Without a thread of ambiguity, these words are clearly written in the Constitution.
 
If the government seeks to change that highest promise to its people, as a democracy, it must amend its Constitution through the legal procedure spelled out in the supreme law of the land. That is, a two-thirds vote of all the members of each House and a majority vote of the citizens. Until then, the ruler of the nation has a sacred duty to uphold the Constitution.
 
However, ever since its adoption, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has incessantly sought to amend the pacifist Constitution. This is no surprise because, after all, LDP is a political party founded postwar by a group of the same politicians who mislead the country into war in the first place.  
 
Nevertheless, in the immediate aftermath of war, the Japanese public exhibited an unwavering determination to never again fight another war because everyone had already experienced firsthand the ruthless and utter annihilation. People weren’t at all open to the idea of amending the pacifist Constitution that may sink them into another misery of war. So, after years of failure, LDP eventually began to self-serve their own ambitions by bending the interpretation of the Constitution and blatantly violating its promise of pacifism.
 
Under such manipulation by the LDP, Japan today is equipped with one of the most robust military capacities in the world, armed with tanks, ballistic missiles, battle ships, torpedoes, rocket launchers, land mines, fighter jets, and machine guns. No doubt, these are weapons with war potential that are unequivocally banned under the pacifist Constitution. Moreover, can an organization with abundant armament as these be considered as anything but armed forces with war potential? Of course not.
 
And of course, the Ground, Maritime, and Air Self-Defense Forces (SDFs) are the Army, Navy, and Air Force that are explicitly banned by the pacifist Constitution. They’re legally considered a military force under the international law because, well, they are. Even then, the LDP explains with a straight face that Our SDFs are not armed forces with war potential. What a lame cover and a political chicanery – this explanation fools no one in the world.
 
To state the very obvious, the disaster relief duties carried out by the SDFs are not a problem at all. These duties are extremely crucial in situations such as earthquakes and floods, and the pacifist Constitution of course does not prohibit such duties. What’s clearly prohibited are the weapons of war and armed forces. When subjected to the scrutiny of the Japanese public, the LDP consistently takes cover behind the former to achieve the latter.
 
If the SDFs disarm, de-militarize, and stipulate disaster relief duties as their sole mission, then there’s no reason to amend the pacifist Constitution. LDP’s obsession to amend the Constitution is to legitimize military just like in prewar Japan. That must not be allowed knowing the horrors of the past.
 
From Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso, the vast majority of the central figures of ruling LDP are members of Japan Conference (Nippon Kaigi). Japan Conference is an ultra-nationalist association which, at its core, promotes the fundamental ideals of Militarist Japan. Such affinity is no surprise given the origins of the LDP.
 
What’s more, Japan Conference’s interpretation of history is hard-right radical, promoting the view of Japanese aggression in World War II as “Not a war of aggression and invasion. Japan should be applauded for liberating much of East Asia from European and American colonial powers.” If the pacifist Constitution is amended under such circumstance, another war may well be on the horizon for Japan.
 
We urge Japan not to revert back to a country that can fight another war. On the day war ended, we sincerely yearn for that.



Below is an excerpt from the Constitution of Japan, the full script of Article 9:

CHAPTER II    RENUNCIATION OF WAR
 
Article 9. (1) Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.

(2) In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized.

Read Next: On the Day War Ended (2)【Doing What's Right】

Read Theme: Violence/Peace