The White Peril 白禍

How's that Yasukuni Shrine situation? (I really need to create a sub-category for that....) Well, let's see. The chief of the LDP's Diet committee gives us this solution:

On 29 May, the leadership of the Liberal Democratic Party issued another in a series of statements calling for the separate enshrinement of class-A war criminals at the Yasukuni Shrine, in response to the controversy over Prime Minister Jun'ichiro Koizumi's pilgrimages to the shrine.

Hidenao Nakagawa, head of the LDP's Diet committee, stated on Fuji Television that he is of the opinion that "the administrators of the shrine should meet with the families [of those enshrined], and voluntarily allow for separate enshrinements. Then, China will agree to Japan's assumption of permanent membership to the UN Security Council."

Yes, I'm sure it'll go just like that. The PRC is not, after all, worried about anything other than Japan's attitude toward its wartime conduct, such as--and I'm just kinda riffing here--the entire balance of power in East Asia.

The word I've rendered "voluntarily" there is 自発的 (jihatsuteki: "self-" + "emergence" + [adjectival/genitive ending]). It also often means something closer to "spontaneously," which would perhaps give a better feel for the complete lack of precedent for such a move as Nakagawa is recommending.

Nakagawa isn't the only one issuing unfathomables on this issue. The Yomiuri English edition corrals many of the latest soundbites from various government types, including this "huh?" moment from a Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare official:

Masahiro Morioka, parliamentary secretary of the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry criticized the Chinese government for demanding Koizumi stop visiting the shrine. "Class-A war criminals are treated as bad people because of fear of China," Morioka said. "War criminals were categorized as Class-A, Class-B and Class-C at the Tokyo Tribunal of War Criminals. They were categorized by a one-sided tribunal led by the Occupation forces at which crimes against peace and humanity were created." [It's enough to make you wonder whether this guy might actually be affiliated with the shrine itself.--SRK]

"A war is part of politics, and it is in line with an international law. The Diet unanimously agreed to pay pensions to the families of Class-A war criminals who have died. They're not seen as criminals in the country," he said.

"Saying it's bad to enshrine Class-A criminals at Yasukuni Shrine is to turn a blind eye to future troubles," he added.

It's certainly true that Japan didn't regard many convicted war criminals as actual criminals. It released most (all?) of those who weren't executed; many promptly reentered public service. One, Nobusuke Kishi, became Prime Minister--though it's important to remember that he wasn't one of those tried and convicted by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. BTW, you can read at that last link to get a sense of whether inventive approaches to crime began with the Tribunal and whether it's future troubles to which someone's turning a blind eye.

As you might imagine, others in the government have reacted along predictable lines--namely, "Sh*t! I would just like to distance myself from that particular comment":

Referring to Morioka's remarks, Hosoda said later in the day: "Such remarks should never be made by a member of the government. There were some errors in the judgments, but it's no use to comment on it. Japan accepted [the tribunal's decision]."

Koizumi told reporters at the Prime Minister's Office, "It's meaningless to take note of his remarks. It's got nothing to do with my visits [to Yasukuni Shrine]."

Japan paid the reparations that were demanded of it; the government is absolutely right to maintain that it no longer owes official apologies and official acts of redress. But diplomacy is about establishing, if not trust, at least fellow-feeling. It's not hard to see why China, the Koreas, and Taiwan, suspect there are key members of the Japanese government with no sense of the enormity of their forebears' conduct.

Added at 15:00: Japundit links to a tidbit about this Kyodo poll. It was a telephone poll (heh-heh), so you have to take it FWIW. A few other interesting notes:

Asked about what the Japanese government has done to work toward improvement of Japan-PRC relations, 50.8% of respondents answered, "I don't think it's sufficient," surpassing by a wide margin the 11.5% who answered, "I think it's sufficient."

...

Regarding the bill to privatize Japan Post, over which debate has begun in the Diet, 47.4% supported it, and 33.3% opposed it. However, regarding explanations from the Prime Minister of why the privatization plan was necessary, the proportion saying, "I don't think they're sufficient," reached 64.1%; by contrast, the percent responding, "I think they're sufficient," was 8.2%, so there are still many who feel that not enough explanation has been offered.

The rate of support for the cabinet has risen 1.5 points since Kyodo's April survey to 48.4%, with the percent not supporting the cabinet dropping 1.9 points to 36.4%. Among reasons given for support of the cabinet, the most frequent was "There are no other appropriate people [available]" at 48.7%. The most frequent reason given for withholding support was "Nothing can be expected of its economic policies" at 22.5%.

There was no obvious direct link to Kyodo's report of the poll, so it's hard to tell how much the push for UNSC permanent membership has affected people's attitudes toward China policy.

Christopher Hitchens's Slate column about North Korea is a good reminder of just how bad things are there (via Downtown Lad). Something struck me as odd, though. He links to a satellite photo showing the differences in nighttime lighting between north and south. The DPRK is way darker, as you'd expect...but it's so completely, unrelievedly dark that I have to wonder. Every single hospital blacked out, for instance? And you can see how blacking out military installations would help keep them from detection, but it also means that soldiers on lookout can't see what they're monitoring.

But even if we assume that the DPRK has managed to effect, through force and the unreliability of its power grid, a blackout of the whole country. the photo should still show at least some lights in Russia and China, right? Northeast Manchuria and Siberia aren't the most population-dense places on Earth...but look at the peninsula right under where it says 40N on the left. That's cut off right at the edge of Dalian, a Chinese city of 3 million people, which is at its tip. The outcropping below it is the Shandong Peninsula, which is also populous. While China may not have become a first-world country yet, I don't think its large northeastern cities are invisible at night. There was a similar photo that made the blog rounds a few years ago that looks more like what you'd expect.

Maybe I just know too little about what things are like in Chinese cities. The Federation of American Scientists, which houses the photo, doesn't seem likely to have doctored it. But the imaging seems to stop northwest of South Korea and Japan. There must be something here I'm missing.

The Pentagon made some of its recommendations for the restructuring of military installations yesterday:

The Pentagon on Friday recommended closing 33 major domestic U.S. military bases and restructuring 29 others, dealing a hard economic blow to many communities across the country.

New England was the hardest hit region and the South was the biggest gainer. States among the biggest losers were Maine, Connecticut, New Jersey and South Dakota. Winners included Texas, Maryland and Georgia, although the Atlanta area was hit hard.

...

The bases are vital economic engines in many communities, which mounted frantic lobbying efforts to save their local bases, and will now try to convince the commission that the Pentagon erred and to spare ones scheduled to close.

This was the expected reaction, of course; and understandable it is, too. Unfortunately, it's not possible to restructure without reallocating resources (though Japanese companies and government bodies give it the old college try).

Speaking of Japan--do I ever not?--its part in the restructuring is taking shape, also:

Japan and the United States have agreed to step up efforts on joint operations and cooperation in the event of a military emergency in Japan. This would include allowing some Japanese facilities, such as harbors and airports, to be used by the U.S. military.

...

In doing so, Tokyo hopes to strike a deal with Washington to reduce U.S. bases here, sources said.

The plan is part of continuing discussions on the global transformation of the U.S. military.

Japanese and U.S. officials are discussing how to divide the roles and duties of the U.S. military and the Self-Defense Forces.

Military emergencies would include a flare-up between China and Taiwan.

In the event of such a crisis, the government believes that allowing U.S. forces to use civilian facilities would ensure closer mutual cooperation, the sources said.

Under this scenario, Tokyo would offer the use of certain airports and harbors to U.S. forces.

With this offer, Tokyo hopes the Pentagon will become more receptive to eliminating certain U.S. facilities in Japan.

In discussions on cutting the U.S. base presence, Japanese officials have asked that those not in active use be returned to Japan. However, U.S. officials insist the facilities are needed in a military emergency.

Notice, toward the bottom of the article, an indication that one of the problems with this agreement has been the failure of the federal government to coordinate effectively with local governments here in Japan. That sort of thing happens very frequently--it's also been a hilarious coda to the fanfare surrounding the Kyoto Protocols. I point this out not to rag on Japan--every social system of 125 million people is going to have its weak points. It's just that people frequently seem to have the impression that Japanese conformism and the post-War success of Japan, Inc., mean that the government functions like one gigantic well-oiled machine. But you get dissent in the ranks and stonewalling by locals here, too.

On a related note, the joint missile defense system is progressing, but, then, I think it only requires the cooperation of the Defense Agency.

A Japanese national has been abducted in Iraq, as the Yomiuri's Cairo bureau appears to have found out from Reuters (whose current story on the subject is here). The Asahi gives his name as Akihito Saito.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs received word at 5:30 a.m. today from the British security firm Hart Security, Ltd., that Akihiko Saito (44), who was working as a consultant at its Iraq office, has been attacked and that his whereabouts are unknown.

The article says that the report was specifically received by the 対策本部 (taisaku-honbu: "measures [taken in response to a situation]" + "head office"), which is the division of Foreign Ministry headquarters that deals with reports of attacks on Japanese citizens abroad. It's chaired directly by Nobutaka Machimura, the Foreign Minister. Machimura and the Ministry of Defense have stated that they have received no demands from the abductors and that there are no plans to change Japan's Iraq policy in response.

The Asahi reports that the terrorist ("militant" if you're just coming back from the Reuters link and need a minute to adjust) group Ansar al-Sunna has posted an image of Saito's passport on its website and stated that he was seriously injured in an ambush on a vehicle that had just left the Assad US Army Base. Of the 17 people captured, including 12 Iraqis, all but Saito have been killed. (The way it's phrase, it looks as if they were executed after capture, not killed in the attack on the vehicles itself.)

This Nikkei headline about the DPRK's missile test yesterday gives some indication of why English translations of Japanese always seem to double the length of the passage in question:

北朝鮮ミサイル実験、日中韓ロと警告へ・米首席補佐官

That 日中韓ロ part in the middle stands for "Japan, China, the ROK, and Russia." The whole thing literally reads, "US Chief of Staff with Japan, PRC, ROK, Russia toward warning on DPRK missile test." Naturalized, it might go, "US to join Japan, PRC, ROK, and Russia in warning DPRK about missile tests, says Chief of Staff."

Anyway, I think yesterday's missile test has been pretty well publicized, and only some fish suffered for it directly. Atsushi thinks the motivation was transferred pain over soccer. He's only half joking.