{"id":24657,"date":"2016-07-21T05:45:34","date_gmt":"2016-07-21T09:45:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=24657"},"modified":"2016-07-20T22:14:24","modified_gmt":"2016-07-21T02:14:24","slug":"japan-flirts-with-world-war-ii-ideology-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2016\/07\/japan-flirts-with-world-war-ii-ideology-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan flirts with World War II ideology again"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Japan\u2019s Liberal Democratic Party has just won a 2\/3 majority in both of its houses of legislature, enabling it to amend its Constitution, which had been imposed by the United States after World War II. \u00a0The party wants to change the Constitution\u00a0because it enshrines \u201cthe Western European theory of natural human rights,\u201d including the freedom of speech.<\/p>\n

Many in the party, including the Prime Minister, belong to a group that believes Japan was in the right during World War II. \u00a0These lawmakers want to rebuild Japan\u2019s military capacity and to return to worship of the Emperor.<\/p>\n

From Josh Gelertner,\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Japan\u2019s New Fascism | National Review<\/a>:<\/em><\/p>\n

This week, Japan\u2019s Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partners won a two-thirds majority in the legislature\u2019s upper house, to go along with their two-thirds majority in the lower house. A two-thirds majority is required in each house to begin the process of amending Japan\u2019s constitution. And amending the constitution is one of the central planks in the LDP\u2019s platform. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

The constitution was imposed on Japan by the United States after the Second World War; it has never been amended. Why should it be amended now? As Bloomberg reports, the LDP has pointed out that \u201cseveral of the current constitutional provisions are based on the Western European theory of natural human rights; such provisions therefore [need] to be changed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

What has the LDP got against the \u201cWestern European theory of natural human rights\u201d? you might ask. Well, dozens of LDP legislators and ministers \u2014 including Japan\u2019s prime minister, Shinzo Abe \u2014 are members of a radical nationalist organization called Nippon Kaigi, which believes (according to one of its members, Hakubun Shimomura, who until recently was Japan\u2019s education minister) that Japan should abandon a \u201cmasochistic view of history\u201d wherein it accepts that it committed crimes during the Second World War. <\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, in Nippon Kaigi\u2019s view, Japan was the wronged party in the war. According to the Congressional Research Service, Nippon Kaigi believes that \u201cJapan should be applauded for liberating much of East Asia\u201d during WW2, that the \u201cTokyo War Crimes tribunals were illegitimate,\u201d and that the rape of Nanking was either \u201cexaggerated or fabricated.\u201d It denies the forced prostitution of Chinese and Korean \u201ccomfort women\u201d by the Imperial Japanese Army, believes Japan should have an army again \u2014 something outlawed by Japan\u2019s current constitution \u2014 and believes that it should return to worshipping the emperor.<\/span><\/p>\n

[Keep reading. . .]<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Well, nationalism is back. \u00a0Fascism is coming back. \u00a0Japan is a potentially very powerful country. \u00a0It would make an interesting counter to China. \u00a0But that\u2019s all we need, another global hot spot\u2013a war-like nation with a chip on its shoulder\u2013adding Japan to China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, and the world-wide ISIS caliphate.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/blockquote><\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Japan\u2019s Liberal Democratic Party has just won a 2\/3 majority in both of its houses of legislature, enabling it to amend its Constitution, which had been imposed by the United States after World War II. \u00a0The party wants to change the Constitution\u00a0because it enshrines \u201cthe Western European theory of natural human rights,\u201d including the freedom […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,20,23,35],"tags":[815,2435,2385],"class_list":["post-24657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-government","category-history","category-international","category-philosophy-2","tag-fascism","tag-japan","tag-world-war-ii"],"yoast_head":"\nJapan flirts with World War II ideology again<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Japan's Liberal Democratic Party has just won a 2\/3 majority 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