Japan Institute for National Fundamentals
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Speaking out

Yoshiko Sakurai

【#374】Selfish People Could Ruin Japan

Yoshiko Sakurai ／ 2016.05.17 (Tue)


May 16, 2016

　　　　　How selfish these Japanese are!
　　　　　I got the feeling when reading the results of an interview poll of 700 people in 11 prefectures as carried by the May 16 issue of the weekly AERA magazine. While around 60% of respondents in various polls said Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution should not be amended, 53.6% of the interviewees at the AERA poll said war for self-defense would be acceptable. However, women in all generations said they would never accept war even for self-defense purposes.

Extreme ignorance and selfishness
　　　　　Asked how Japan should respond to attacks by other countries or armed organizations, respondents said that none would attack Japan, that diplomatic efforts should be made to prevent any foreign attack, or that Japan should not wage war but have the U. S. forces do so.
　　　　　Of women respondents in the interview poll, 45% refused to accept the Self-Defense Forces as war potential and placed expectations on the SDF’s role as disaster rescue units. Questioned whether they would seek to lead the SDF to abolish war potential and disarm if they see disaster rescue alone as sufficient for the SDF, many answered no in support of the status quo. These results are surely attributable to respondents’ ignorance of the international situation and their sheer selfishness.
　　　　　Why don’t women expecting no foreign attack on Japan ignore the U.S. Defense Department’s analysis viewing China as increasing military threats with Japan in mind and China’s barbarous actions in the South China Sea? Can women requesting the United States to fight for Japan make the same request to the soon-to-be Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump who is refusing to defend Japan with American taxpayers’ money and tens of millions of Americans who support him?
　　　　　Women who refuse to accept war even for self-defense because of mothers’ value of bearing and rearing children should give consideration to the thoughts of American mothers. Do American mothers accept their children to go to war for any country like Japan that has no willingness to defend itself and its people? The answer is absolutely no.

Urgent necessity to amend Constitution
　　　　　More than 50 years ago, former Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida warned that disaster rescue operations would not be any essential reason for the existence of the SDF. National defense is the main task of armed forces in any country. Those who see disaster rescue operations as the raison d’etre for the SDF should request to disarm the SDF. Nevertheless, they don’t do so. This may be because they believe the SDF should fight in case of emergency. If so, they should clearly admit the SDF’s existence and right of belligerency, amending the Constitution. It may be extremely unfair for sovereign citizens to urge the SDF to fight in emergency without the amendment of the Constitution.
　　　　　Who will risk their lives to fight for Japanese who do nothing but to stick to the spirit of “trusting in the justice and faith of the peace-loving peoples of the world” as described in the preamble of the Constitution? We are urgently required to break away with the abnormal national security stance rooted deep in the postwar Constitution. I really fear that if we cannot do so, Japan will go to ruin.

Yoshiko Sakurai is President, Japan Institute for National Fundamentals.