Japan Stands Up To North Korea

Charleston (SC) Post and Courier | February 25, 2003

[Semper Paratus]

Japan is plenty steamed about the NK kidnappings.

[HighRoadToChina]

About time BUMP!

[cynicom]

Japan knows full well that it has no friends in the Western Pacific and Asian mainland.

[Centurion2000]

Bump ... does anyone know if Japan flies the Rising Sun flag anymore ? Seeing that flag go up again will be a little creepy but this time welcomed by America.

[Windsong]

The Washington Post reports that Japan's Defense Agency has stepped up training of special and airborne forces...

Ninja pic, anyone?

[Iscool]

That's a pretty bold statement by a country that doesn't have a viable military...What they gonna do, drop old rotted sushi on North Korea from a DC-10???

[AnAmericanMother]

ping to you . . .

What's your take on this? What's your assessment of Japan's attitude towards NK at this time?

Thanks. Really appreciate your insight. Beyond a general course in "Asian affairs" in the East Asian Studies Dept. in my university (almost 30 years ago!) I know very little about this part of the world.

[AmericanInTokyo]

The sentiment within the ranks of average Japanese is that within the last five months, for a variety of factors, based primarily on North Korea's misbehavior and outright LIES in a number of areas, their prominent impression and 'feeling' (kangekata) has shifted from moderate negativity toward or little interest in North Korea, to a rather strong suspicion and distrust of North Korea.

I would say that by far North Korea is the most hated nation in the list of countries Japanese regularly feel about.

In lieu of that, the stock of the US has risen, although there is still some strong national sentiment not necessarily in support of the US on Iraq (mostly among young people); most Japanese are resigned to the fact that the USA is the strongest nation, is in a sense the worlds' policeman, and that Saddam Hussein and Kim Jong il are both incorrigible liars.

My assessment is that if North Korea launches a threatening Taepodong long range missile, combined with inflammatory anti-North Korea comments by such politicians as Ishihara and the defense hawks, a large segment of the Japanese population could be 'radicalized' in favor of more aggressive self-defense measures heretofore not thought posssible in pacifist, post-war, US/MacArthur-inspired- Constitution JAPAN.

[AnAmericanMother]

You're on the front line there.

And you're right. NK and its leadership are just crazy enough to do something really crazy, and they could do a lot of damage before they could be stopped.

Stay safe.

[katana]

The Japanese may be willing to act humble with countries and races with who they feel they are equal, but that list emphatically does not include the Koreans (North or South).

[Fudd]

What they (Japan) gonna do, drop old rotted sushi on North Korea from a DC-10???

If they do, it is sure to hit one of the front-line MiG-19 fighters that PRNK has.

[JasonC]

They have a better air force and navy than China does. They have hundreds of fighters including F-15s, dozens of quiet electric subs, scores of surface combatants including Aegis destroyers. They also have a civilian satellite launch industry that gives them all the technology needed for strategic missiles, and a civilian nuclear power industry based on plutonium breeder reactors that gives then all the material they need to have an independent nuclear arsenal inside of six months. And they have the second largest economy in the world, with world leading electronics and manufacturing. Only us and Russia outweigh their military potential.

[ThinkDifferent]

a civilian nuclear power industry based on plutonium breeder reactors that gives then all the material they need to have an independent nuclear arsenal inside of six months

And they recently "discovered" that some of their plutonium was "missing". Gosh, I wonder where it could have gone.

[Charles Martel]

does anyone know if Japan flies the Rising Sun flag anymore ? Seeing that flag go up again will be a little creepy but this time welcomed by America.

I believe the National flag (red disc on white background) is referred to by the Japanese as the "Rising Sun" flag. The one with the offset disc and sixteen rays reaching outward is the Naval Jack, which AFAIK has been flown on the vessels and above the navy bases of Japan's Self Defense forces since the early 1950s. There is a Land Defense flag as well, with eight rays from a centered disc and a gold edge.

My father-in-law recently donated a naval flag to the National D-Day Museum, when the Pacific wing opened. He took it off of a flagpole in front of an armory in Sasebo.

[Centurion2000]

That's a pretty bold statement by a country that doesn't have a viable military...

Considering their Air Force and Navy are second only to the USA in terms of military power, I'd hardly call that a non-viable military. The JSDF could shred anyone that strolls into their neighborhood .... Koreas (both of them) are in the neighborhood.

They just can't project power across the globe like we can.

[Guillermo]

Australia?

[L,TOWM]

>>>>>>Japanese politicians are beginning to discuss the need to provide anti-missile defenses for their nation, and have even broached the hitherto taboo subject of nuclear armaments for Japan.<<<<<<

AiT, what has been the flavor of any political discussions or man on the street talk on the subject of nukes? Is it still 'Never', or has it turned into 'Maybe' or 'at some point, yes' ? I'm just curious how that topic is floating or sinking in the nation where August 6 is still a national day of mourning...

[cynicom]

Australia??? Reluctant ally perhaps. Japs bombed northern Australia pretty good, so friends, no. From the Bering Strait to Jakarta, those people have long bitter memories.

[Guillermo]

Yeah and Japan bombed us too and killed 25,000 of our troops.

Are we not their ally now?