The White Peril 白禍

Not all of Prime Minister Koizumi's gestures of respect for Japanese military dead are controversial. This morning he attended a memorial service for fallen SDF personnel:

Addressing those assembled at a memorial service held at the Japan Defense Agency for Self-Defense Force personnel who have fallen in the line of duty, Prime Minister Jun'ichiro Koizumi stated, "This precious sacrifice by the spirits [of our soldiers] has not been made for nothing; we will continue to construct a system that allows us to complete the exalted mission [they undertook]."

The memorial was for sixteen or so SDF trainees who were killed in training accidents; there have been no combat operations since the war, of course. Koizumi's statement was pretty content free today--in political terms, I mean; there's nothing weightless about honoring dead soldiers--but it's always good to pay attention to these things because things that slip into set-piece speeches can sometimes give you a glimpse of what the administration is thinking. Where to take the SDF from here has been a big issue over the last few years. The US supports moves to make it more like a standing army, with the legal ability to participate in defense operations with allies. North Korea likes to test missiles over our heads. China's economic growth has been accompanied by increased unrest and schizo behavior by the CCP. Japan wants permanent membership on the UN Security Council. And that doesn't even factor in Japan's place on the Islamofascist terror hit list, for the transgression of being a developed and free country.

The current proposal by the LDP's committee on constitutional revision is to change the SDF to the SDA: 自衛軍 (jieigun: self-defense army). You can never translate these things perfectly, but a 軍 is more menacing-sounding than a 隊. Koizumi appears not to have said much of anything about how his administration views the SDF's "mission" this morning, but it's clearly changing.

Condoleezza Rice has explicitly declared that the US supports Japan in its efforts to resolve the abductee issue:

On the evening of 28 October (29 October JST), Minister of Foreign Affairs Nobutaka Machimura met with US Secretary of State [Condoleezza] Rice at the Ministry of Interior Affairs. They agreed in their perception that there must be a review of US and Japan's contributions to the United Nations, which combined exceed 40% [of total member contributions]. They also reaffirmed that they would present a united front in working toward the denuclearization of North Korea. Machimura indicated that, regarding the Japan-DPRK summit to be opened on 3 November, it is Japan's plan to make the Japanese abductee issue its highest priority in discussion; Rice stated [that Japan had America's] "support on all fronts."

Rice also restated that the US supports Japan's bid for permanent membership on the UN Security Council, though the Bush administration has been known to advise the Koizumi cabinet to throttle back at times. There seems to have been no mention of the beef import ban.

I was going to comment directly at Riding Sun, but I started to run long and didn't want to look like a blowhard. Well, also, my thoughts turned kind of gay (from where? you may well ask), and I didn't want to hijack what was an essentially straight thread before it got started.

The question is a perennial one:

As I've noted before, foreign men who come to Japan often find themselves much more popular with the local ladies than they might have been in their native country.

...


More than ethnic preferences, income levels, or any other factor, I suspect it's Japanese women's desire to "opt out" of their country's smothering salaryman-wife straitjacket that keeps non-Japanese guys in demand.

That's part of it, but I don't think it's all of it, or else you wouldn't see the same things in gay life. And do you ever! The things a perceptive commenter noted below the original post give a fuller picture, I think. Much of it can be boiled down to the fact that Japanese women can't really read Western cultural signals. "Doesn't that gorgeous, animated, articulate woman in the Escada suit and perfect makeup realize that the man she's with is a complete loser?" Well, no, obviously she doesn't. (cf. Rainbow Surfer Dude's wonderfully deadpan item 2: "Less need to be 'interesting' since the language barrier pushes down the upper limit of conversational complexity.")

Also...this conversation comes up not infrequently with friends of mine. A little while ago, several of us foreigners--in a group that included Japanese guys who date foreigners exclusively--were talking about why our relationships with Japanese men had tended to be with those who did not usually date non-Japanese. One of the Japanese guys present asked rather astringently what was wrong with preferring foreign men.

Obviously, nothing is, fundamentally. It's just that many gaisen Japanese, especially those who only want to speak English with you all the time, like the idea of dating a man who's always going to feel kind of baffled and clueless in Japan and need to be, you know, taken care of. I suspect, from the way I've seen many couples interact, that the same holds true for a fair number of foreigner-dating Japanese women--and I don't think that contradicts what Gaijin Biker wrote about their not wanting to be sentenced to a life of nothing but household drudgery. You can expect your mate to pitch in around the house and still want to be the one who calls the shots and is always one step ahead in terms of planning your lives together.

Added on 28 October: Thanks to Bilious Young Fogey for the link, though I must say that parenthetical makes me feel kind of square.

The LDP's constitutional revision committee confirmed today that its proposals will, in fact, include an item that redesignates the Self-Defense Force (自衛隊) as the Self-Defense Army (自衛軍). Of course, the English there doesn't match up exactly, but the new title makes the SDF sound more like a substantial standing army and less like a modest squad that can be called in if there happens to be a need:

When the committee leaders met with the Prime Minister and former Prime Minister [Yoshiro] Mori on 14 October, they concurred on guidelines: (1) the philosophical underpinnings of Article 9, which decrees that Japan "renounces war," would be strictly maintained, (2) it would be stipulated in Article 9 Item ii that Japan maintains a self-defense army with the goals of defense of the homeland and of international cooperative efforts, and (3) in the revised text of Article 9, laws for "basic security," "international cooperation," and "emergency circumstances" would be established without explicit mention of a right to participate in collective self-defense operations.

It will be interesting to see what Japan's neighbors make of that, though the Bush administration will doubtless be happy.

The US and Japan are still in negotiations over the Futenma USMC base in Okinawa and (of course) the ban on beef imports. Thomas Schieffer, Howard Baker's colorless successor as US ambassador to Japan, appears to be trying to apply pressure:

Japan has proposed holding a "two plus two" top level security meeting on Oct. 29 over the issue and expects the two countries to compile an interim report on the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan before U.S. President George W. Bush's expected visit in November.

Schieffer said the Futenma issue should be resolved before discussing these matters, while stressing that they should be left to the two countries' negotiators.

"I think the purpose of the interim agreement is to announce something that is substantive," he said. "We wouldn't want to have a meeting just for a meeting's sake."

He called ongoing bilateral talks on the U.S. military's realignment plans strategic negotiations.

"What we have been continuing to try to stress throughout the negotiations...are strategic elements in the alliance," Schieffer said. "What we also want to do is look at what those forces would be and what they will need to be capable of doing in the future in order to be effective."

Schieffer also expressed strong dissatisfaction with Japan's ban on U.S. beef imports due to concerns over mad cow disease.

"I'm afraid it has done real damage to the American-Japanese relationship, because it has reminded people of some of the trade frictions that existed between our two countries in the 1980s," he said. "I hope that the issue resolves as soon as possible, because if this continues to go on, I think that the United States Congress is going to impose sanctions on Japan."

"I hope that the matter will be largely resolved, if not completely [by the time of Bush's visit]," he said.

Well, the beef import ban is excessive given what scientists know about BSE; I'm not sure that comparisons with Japan's outright protectionist trade barriers of two decades ago really work. In any case, the Japanese government appears to be relenting on the issue of where to move Futenma's helicopter operations, which to judge from reports will make restructuring easier for the armed forces.

The Nikkei reports:

The exchange of opinions between the Japanese and US governments revolving around where to relocate the facilities at the Futenma [USMC] Base in Okinawa, a focal point of the restructuring of US military presence in Japan, is heating up. Negotiations that were initially quiet on the surface have developed into a state in which each side responds with a ringing declaration of its own position. The Japanese government sent Japan Defense Agency [policy] head Kazuo Ofuru to the US on 4 October and is looking for an opening by which to work its way out of the current deadlock, but there is a deep divide between the Japan-side proposal to move operations to the Camp Schwab exercise grounds (the on-land proposal) and the US-side proposal to reclaim shallows for the purpose (the off-shore proposal).

"The US is pushing its off-shore proposal, but we've said, 'It will be very difficult to build [the base] on sea; let's go with a land base.' A plan for the same sort of base has also been rejected by voters in Nago [City]."

Takemasa Moriya, Deputy Minister of Defense, revealed to a 3 October press conference that he was very dissatisfied with the US response.

The Futenma facilities in question house helicopter operations, which are a touchy subject on both sides these past few years.

Moriya, BTW, is an interesting character. He's the highest-level pure bureaucrat at the Japan Defense Agency. (The cabinet ministers themselves, of course, are selected by the Prime Minister and approved by the ruling party, so they tend to come from outside.) He's very powerful, and he doesn't mince words--you learn to stop and pay attention when one of his soundbites comes on NHK, because what he says is usually as reliable an indicator as you get of what Japan's military strategists are thinking. Or at least what they want the Japanese public and the rest of the world to think they're thinking.