Japan's Military in a New Age



Prime Minister Shinzo Abe

According to ViceNews, Japan's Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, had been trying to change Article 9 of the country's constitution. Article 9 has been in the country's constitution since it was written in 1945, after Japan was defeated in World War II, and it states that Japan may not go to war. Due to the recent executions of two Japanese hostages by ISIS, Abe has stated his wish for the re-militarization of Japan's culture. While numerous people oppose the change, there are those who do support such a change. Many of the right-wing individuals are nationalists, reactionists, and even people who act in the underworld. The right-wing groups practically all agree that Japan needs to have the ability to protect themselves. One right-wing activist by the name of Shinichi Kamijo disagrees with the left-wing members so much that he even stated that "[he's] not surprised at all that they were killed." This statement was in reference to the two Japanese men that were murdered by ISIS. Kamijo blames the two for their own deaths, saying that they went to the Middle East of their own will. He even goes so far as to say that he does not think of the two dead as fellow Japanese, as they leaned toward the left-wing. In 2014, Prime Minister Abe's Cabinet had managed to pass the reinterpretation of Article 9, which was met with mixed results. Again, there were many who protested the reinterpretation of Article 9, but one man seemed to stand out against the crowd, as his story allows his right-wing views to have more relevance. His name is Koshiro Tanaka, but he has become known as the Afghan Samurai, due to his time fighting the Russians alongside the Mujahidin. Mr. Tanaka holds traditional Japanese values, and therefore he finds Kenji Goto (one of the two to be beheaded by ISIS) to be a disgrace to Japan, as he had forgotten "How to die." Oddly enough though, Tanaka had only gone to Afghanistan alone to fight the Soviets simply to see is he was "truly prepared to die by going to face the enemy in a place where [he] could actually die." He also agrees with the changing of Article 9, as he says "Protecting your homeland with your own hands is completely natural." Mr. Tanaka's views are joined with members of the Yakuza and other right-wing activists. While Japan does have a joint security treaty with America, many Japanese individuals feel that America will not protect Japan if the country should come under attack. Many individuals wish that Japan could create an army so that they could join for situations such as this. However, even with all the right-wing activists, there is a great amount of left-wing protestors that object to the change of Article 9. One man even went so far as to light himself on fire to protest the reinterpretation of the Article. This kind of protest is extremely rare, however, and most simply hold posters that say "Don't Destroy Article 9," "We're Against War," Etc. Personally, I agree with the right-wing groups, as I do believe a country should have the ability to both protect themselves if attacked and be able to wage war against those who wish to do harm against a specific country, such as America did with Afghanistan. I also do not believe that Japan should rely on America's protection. America may not be able to protect Japan if America's resources are stretched too thin from its own wars in the Middle East or various other locations. I do believe that America should support and possible even supply Japan in its efforts to create a military, though. Japan may have been a country that attempted to conquer the world's nations in WWII, but times have changed and they are America's allies and require all the aid they can, with a bit of help from their own people.

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