Remember! The history can repeat itself. The dreadful nightmare of Japanese holy war can happen again. May God save Korea !

Joseph H. Chung, Ph.D. (정희수), Professor of Economics, Quebec University in Montreal (UQAM)

(지난 호에 이어)

The NMRG has been trying to restore the State Shinto. Already it is taught at schools.

The State Shinto is, perhaps, the most weaponized religion in the world. It is the religion which made the "kamikaze pilot" to throw away the young lives for the glory of "den-no-hei-ka" (the emperor).

Shinto has returned and the NMRG led by the Kishi Nobuske-Shinzo Abe line force will be soon able to transform Shinto into State-Shinto.

In 1969, the Shinto Association for Spiritual Leadership was established. It is the political arm of the Association of Shinto Shrines which has 80,000 members. There are Shinto shrines in every town and many households have family shrines.

The political weight of Shinto is reflected by the fact that 99% of 2016 cabinet ministers are members of the Association. In fact, Shinto has become de facto State Shinto. Moreover, the Shinto Association is closely tied to the Nippon Gaigi through the Society of Defence Japan

The spread of State Shinto will end up with the mobilization of Japanese people who will fight for the glory of the emperor. So, Shinto is an important strategic weapon for holy war 2.0.

1.3 Further Militarization

Since the 2000s, various institutions and laws were established in order to make Japan a "normal country" capable of conducting war far from Japan. Most of these institutions and laws were initiated by Shinzo Abe and his fellow members of the NMRG.

Remember that Shinzo Abe was prime minister of Japan twice, 2006-2007 and 2012-2020.

In 2007, the National Defence Agency was promoted to the status of Ministry of National Defence.

In 2013: the National Security Council was created in order to better plan and coordinate wars.

In 2013: the Secrecy Law was passed to control ant-war movement.

In 2014, Japan put the end to the self-imposed arms embargo.

In 2015, the National Diet passed a law allowing Japan to undertake "collective defence" by virtue of which Japan can send its armed forces abroad and participate in war undertaken by allies.

In 2022, both lower house and the upper house obtained two-third of seats needed to amend the peace constitution. There remains the popular referendum requiring two-third of popular votes allowing the process of undertaking the elimination of Article 9 of the peace constitution.

The media has been talking a lot about Japan's remilitarization. But, what is happening now is not remilitarization; it is further militarization for war readiness.

Japan is already the third military power in Asia; it is highly militarized already. It did spend in 2020 as much as USD 50 billion compare to USD 40 billion in South Korea. In other words, Japan is more than remilitarized. Japan has been strengthening the striking capability of its armed forces.

Moreover, as we saw in the past, Japan can rapidly convert the civil industries into military industries. Japan can become, sooner than we think, a super military power threatening neighbouring countries including Korea and China.

Japan has two aircraft carriers. It has created the amphibious units to undertake amphibious attack against foreign country. It has developed long-range missile reaching even China. Japan has the capability to conduct anti-submarine warfare.  It has Boeing V-22 Osprey and Global hawk drones.

The striking capability of the Japanese armed forces (nominally SDF) is great enough to stir up the fear of another pan-Asian war.

What Japan is preparing now is something far beyond its militarization; Japan is suspected by many for its preparation of its holy war 2.0.

In reality, Japanese military power can soon become super military power capable of hitting China with support of the U.S. and even ROK armed forces.

1.4 Lobbying Campaign

Another strategy of Japan's war preparation is the lobbying (bribe) campaign. Japan is one of the countries extremely sensitive to its image; it wants to show to the world that it is very democratic, peace loving, non-racist and big donor to international organizations.

Above all, Japan has been pouring out money to persuade the world that what it did during the Pacific War was good for Asian countries, that the Nanking Rape never happened and that the beastly raping of 250,000 poor Korea girls was a fiction.

What is surprising is that the media of the West seldom raise the issues of comfort women and the Nanking Rape. This is the results of the brilliant bribe diplomacy of Japan. In the U.S., some of the major think tanks, university research centers and NGOs are fatly funded by Japan.

In 2021, Harvard University law professor Mark J. Ramseyer wrote an article in the International Review of Laws and Economics claiming that the crime of comfort women did not happen. More than three thousand North American university professors of the Korean origin published a long statement asking the journal not to publish the article. Harvard University published it nonetheless.

Professor Ramseyer was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun for his contribution for the promotion of Japanese interests. It is suspected that lobbying by Japan might have led to the publication of the article.

The media praises Japan as most democratic country. But, Japan has been ruled every year by the same party, the LDP, since 1957 except five years. Is it possible, in a truly democratic country, for the same party to rule for so long?

The media of the West seldom report on racial discrimination in Japan. But, Japan is the most racist country among developed countries.

What is troubling is that, due to Japan's aggressive bribe campaign, the world may overlook the danger of possible Japan's holy war 2.

At any rate, Japan's lobbying campaign can be a very effective tool for the preparation of holy war 2.0.  (다음 호에 계속)

<저작권자(c) Budongsancanada.com 부동산캐나다 한인뉴스, 무단 전재-재배포 금지 >