Between the Constitution and Kimigayo

No country gets rid of its leaders faster than Japan. The shadow of the guillotine is always there in the background - unless your name happens to be Junichiro Koizumi. Only he, it seems, can escape the common fate. Only he is able to court popularity, win elections and bask in the glory of knowing that his successors are not up to the job and are certain to get the razor sooner rather than later.

Before the academic evaluations begin on the Koizumi years, it is useful to have a series of dispatches from the front line by the senior journalist Yoshibumi Wakamiya. He became chairman of the editorial board at the Asahi Shimbun in the autumn of 2002 and his time there coincides loosely with the reign of Japan's oldest Elvis impersonator and only crooning prime minister.

"Between the Constitution and Kimigayo" is a welcome bilingual text that shows how one commentator viewed events as they took place in Japan, in the region and in the snakepit of the Middle East. While readers may have misgivings about Wakamiya's initial statement that he wrote his columns "to find harmony somehow" between the Right (symbolized through Japan's Kimigayo national anthem) and its Left (symbolized by the postwar Constitution), you should not be put off. Also, if you think that journalism is largely soft pap for those who want their prejudices confirmed, you, too, are in for some pleasant surprises.

Wakamiya speaks his mind. It's refreshing to hear him say back in 2003 that "Koizumi has no true Asian friends" and that the premier therefore "has no choice but to increasingly rely on Bush, even though Bush's style is inviting international criticism. It shows the danger of one-track diplomacy."

Equally, by the time the prime minister finally resigned, the author has displayed more than sufficient consistency to write an open letter to Koizumi entitled " Plain talk about Yasukuni and Iraq is required." He ticks Koizumi off for having " repeatedly and obstinately" visited Yasukuni shrine, warning him that the wider world, including both Koreas and both Chinas, regard this behavior as "support of Japan's past militarism."

Concern for increasing right-wing nationalism is a theme running throughout many of the columns. It needs to be stressed that journalists and others who speak out over Yasukuni, the emperor's wartime role, Imperial Japan's occupation of east and southeast Asia and enlargement of the missions of the Self Defense Forces may do so at considerable risk to themselves, their families and colleagues. Assassinations and arson are fortunately rare but they do occur. Wakamiya is surely correct to stress that Japan has to be seen to be vigilant in "fighting terror on the home front," particularly when politicians have been slow to criticize those who perpetrate such acts.

Given its insights, "Between the Constitution and Kimigayo" could be usefully incorporated into a host of different classes on contemporary Japan. Perhaps, more texts on similar lines might follow to increase awareness of the quality of Japanese journalism.

© Japan Today